This is where it began – the Post Office…..
                          
Life seems different when experienced through Sophia, who is now four years old. Running errands takes on a whole new meaning. She loves going into the post office. She gets to sit on the counter. Talks to the clerks. They imprint her hand with a rubber stamp & ink. She loves every minute of it.
Over the last two years, she especially has taken a shine to one woman. Sophia made sure to converse with her each time we went, learning her name, asking her questions. I had a most eye-opening conversation with Mary (not her real name), Sophia’s friend, when I went this week without Sophia, who was in school that morning.
Mary asked for her. I explained that she was in school. Mary remarked that Sophia would do well in school as she loves to converse & ask questions. I replied, “You have made quite an impression on that little girl.”
Mary replied, “No, it is you people that have made an impression on me.”
When I looked puzzled, she continued….
“Didn’t you ever notice that I don’t really like people & I especially don’t like children. Sophia MADE me like her. I am not even sure how you all did it but week after week, you came in & talked to me & cared. I couldn’t NOT like you all. When I would see you in line, I hurried just to be able to take care of you so I would get to talk to her. She MADE me like her.”
The post office remained empty & we continued to talk. She shared with me of her childhood, of the pain of being shy & introverted, unloved, mistreated, abused. Driving home, I realized that over the time, we had become safe to her. It took time but somehow, without knowing it, Sophia had made relationship with this woman.
Later that night, I read this from Lisa Harper’s book, “Untamed”:
Our Savior pursues us to the extreme. He takes the lead in loving us. He calls us into relationship with Him.
The disciples and the crowds drew close mainly because they sensed He cared about them. Jesus won their hearts by declaring and demonstrating His affection first. And the more I contemplate His passionate quest for my own heart – the more I’m compelled to run after Him. (page 83)
The very same way that Christ pursues us to make relationship, we must be deliberate to make relationships with those around us. We need to demonstrate to them that they matter to us. They must know that we do truly care about them, their hurts & their fears. The more we demonstrate our concern for them, the more compelled they will feel to open up to us.
It is a hurting world. May we show the love of Christ in the ordinary interactions that we have each & every day with those we meet. May we remember to win over their hearts, one day at a time.
                        “We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 NIV
                                           Oh, may we love like Him!!!
