A little love

Last night we had our weekly dinner. People who do not come to our dinner have no clue what they are missing. I do not necessarily mean the food, although they did miss some great lasagna last night. It is just a great night. Last night there was laughter and there were also a few tears (over a story I told about a touching prayer.) At the end of the evening there was even a little work when everyone picked up all the chairs and tables to prepare the room for the blood drive taking place here on Friday.

The most touching part of the evening for me was seeing someone bend over and tie a shoe… not their own shoe, but someone else’s. When nearly everyone else was gone, one the women at the dinner bent over to tie someone else’s shoe. The special needs community is very well represented at our weekly dinners. They teach us so much about authenticity, acceptance, and love. One of them apparently had a shoe that come untied. There was a woman (who had been in the hospital the day before) who knelt down and tied the shoe. I thought it was so precious I took a picture. However, she did not just tie the shoe. She asked, “Do you normally tie it in a double knot?” You may be asking yourself what is so special about a double knot. Well, a double knot is special because it helps keep your shoe from coming untied al the time, but that is not what I mean. It was the question itself. The woman tying the shoe simply talked to the special needs person as a person. She is a person. She gave her answer about the double knot as I got pulled away by someone else for something else.

My takeaway/sendaway from today’s blog is not what I thought it was going to be when I began. I am reminded by the interaction from last night that, at our core, we are all the same. While we are all uniquely created by God, we are all human beings on a journey through this life. And we are all the doing our best to live our earthly lives. There are times we all need a hand. There are also times we all have the opportunity to lend a hand. We all have our moments of doubt and fear. We all have our opinions about things. We all come in to life the same way and will exit the same way. We all need a Savior and we all are welcome to receive that Savior. There is only one, and His name is Jesus. When we receive Him, He calls us to love one another. Sometimes love is kneeling down to tie a shoe. That is an obvious form of love. Other times love does not look like love: like when we call people to get off their path of destruction and on the path that leads to life. The path that leads to life begins at the cross of Christ. It is love to tell it.