An elderly woman came to visit me at my nurse clinic yesterday. As we talked she mentioned she had been “in the forces” at one time. This lovely character of a lady described being terribly upset by having to wear skirts,
and how she wanted to be a driver (while in Hamburg) because she would get to wear trousers!
One particular story twisted me up inside at the dilemma she had been part of. The pain of being
in any war was enough, but this woman had learnt to be grateful to have had the chance to see things from the other side (something we should all remember as Jesus followers).
To describe this dilemma,
she talked of war as a fight between leaders where their followers, the individual innocents, got hurt. She spoke of peering out train windows with food in her hands, ready to throw to the starving children running the tracks. She talked of the large
numbers of these same children being killed under the train wheels as it took off while they scrambled for tossed food.
She vividly recalled the agony of denying these children the supplies she had for
the sake of their lives - yet their lives were at stake without this food.
Was there ever an instant when you pulled back from offering Jesus’ invitation to someone, for fear of what crushing impact
might topple them as they scrambled over the pieces, only to consider what inevitable eternal sacrifice they would be crushed under if you kept quiet?
To die with the nuggets of Jesus
filling us however, is to die in order to live. Choose life!
Just a special personal note: My daughter, Riva, turned 11 yesterday and we bought her a 5 month old kitten. Catching an afternoon nap while lying on my side
Milo came up behind me and massaged my back! In all seriousness, God may have taught cats to do that for that particular moment in time! I melted (I am recovering from a cold) and nearly cried for thinking I was in heaven! Moral: give and you will receive!!!