Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 1 Pet 1:22
It was a simple scene: A dilapidated mobile home, a dying tree, and a swing hanging from a branch. The Holy Spirit used these three elements to expose a rotting cavity in my soul. The disproportionate tree looked like a fat hunched-over man. Lightening must have shattered the top half years before. My first thought was that any decent arborist would have removed the oak long ago. My assessment of the ugly tree was arrested by the swing. Some child obviously treasured the stumpy old growth. The rundown dwelling in the background hinted the tree and swing may have been the child's only solace. He or she would grow up with fond memories of the dear bent trunk; the same one I would have summarily destroyed.
The black place in my heart God revealed through the tree was my preoccupation with perfection. If a tree is not symmetrical I want it cut down. If a human is not beautiful and rational I want them to change. When someone fails to progress at the rate I deem appropriate I disregard them. I only love God's creation when it measures up to my standards and in my foolishness I usually set the mark higher than I myself can attain. No wonder I am often disgusted with myself and the humans around me. The tree had disrobed my dark thinking.
What I need is more plain simple love. I need to brim so full of goodwill that I cannot help swamping those around me with joy no matter how deserving or willing to receive they may be. Giving love is like the sand in an hourglass. I am the top half others are the bottom. I must learn to let the sand of love flow according to how much I have and not according to what they possess. To withhold my sand unless they have value of their own is no true definition of love. The miracle of God's love is that as I pour myself into others He refills me from above.
The tree, the swing, and the trailer allowed me the mercy of realizing my pathetic need. Now I can go about the business of calling on the Lord to give me more love so I can pass more on.
Prayer: Patient Jesus, let me love no matter what.
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