Love through Christ

Over my life, there have been many glimpses of Christ's love pouring out of someone as they touched another person's life. There were always those times on missions trips or church youth group events, where you would see this outpouring of Christ's love into a community or to touch a life. However there are very few moments that I can recall that I have seen this in my day to day life.

My grandmother has been diagnosed with Dementia with Alzheimer's traits and has been in an assisted living home for the past three years. Unfortunately over the past few months her condition has become worse and her health has been declining drastically. Since we do not know how much longer we will have her here with us, my family and I went to visit her yesterday after church.

My mom is an only child and has been taking care of my grandma to the best of her ability for the past three years trying to make her comfortable and make sure she had the very best care possible. However, yesterday I noticed something different about how she cared for her mom. The loving touches she would give her mom, the way she would brush her hair out of her face, and the way she fed her so she could make sure she was getting nourishment were so patient and so kind. Still today I'm amazed at my mom and how she showed all the love she had for her mom and had done everything she could to let her mom know how much she loved her. She didn't do this begrudgingly or act like this time with her mom was inconveniencing her, she sat there and focused solely on her mom and her well being. Through my mom's outpouring of love I feel as if I was finally able to see a physical example of how our Heavenly Father cares for us and how He expects us to love other people.

How often is it that we get caught up in our own lives and our own agenda that we forget other people? I could have very well missed this opportunity yesterday to see my mom's love because of other things I had to do in order to get ready for the week ahead. Instead I was able to witness this amazing act of love and kindness and a perfect example of how we are supposed to love others. The second greatest commandment after loving God with everything we have inside of us is to love our neighbors. We often forget this point in this "me-centered" world we live in, but how can we truley love God if we're not loving our neighbors?

"Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
Matthew 22:37 - 39