What do Oprah Madonna and Irena Sendlerowa have in common?

I got quite emotional over the last week reading different articles in “The Witness” (local rag). The one article was an obituary of a 98 year old woman by the name of Irena Sendlerowa. There is a very small and seemingly insignificant photo of her but looks are deceiving. This lady was a Polish resistance fighter during the Second World War who organized the rescue of 2500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto during the Nazi occupation. She smuggled these children through sewers, in ambulances, under her skirt and she hid them in monasteries, with foster parents and in orphanages. She was later arrested and tortured by the Gestapo, but never gave details of the resistance movements work, nor revealed the children’s name. She was saved on the day over scheduled execution. I also read an article about Madonna the pop star diva who plans to build a multi-million- dollar girl’s school in Malawi for underprivileged children this year. It is on the same scale of what Oprah Winfrey has done in South Africa. Which boasts a state of the art facilities, laboratories, a yoga studio and beauty salon. The latter took my breath away for a moment as I tried to see the importance of a Yoga Studio and Beauty Salon for underprivileged children, but maybe I am way too Methodist! The question is – Who gave the most? The answer is quite obvious in my eyes – the one who sacrificed the most.

The Cable Guy aka Christian Guy

Lets be objective for a moment. If somebody comes to you and says, “I sacrifice my life for you,” or if they give you a gift or do something for you that costs them dearly, what is your true view of them? “Weird”, “Psycho”, maybe terms that come to mind. Bringing over a Pizza when you return from a long journey may be considered kind and thoughtful but sending over a catering company to do your dining room up with candle light, serving Peking Duck with Crème Brulee for desert might make you wish you never came to live in that particular neighbourhood. Christian love may seem for some to be way out of line and embarrassing and we need to be careful how we “Love our Neighbour.” Our needs and motives to be loved ourselves can easily get in the way of loving our neighbour effectively. Our dependence for love, care, and acceptance might lump us in the weirdo category if we don’t watch out. Our love is from a love that is given freely with no strings attached. We ‘truly’ don’t want the glory and so it is easy to give space when space is due, just wave when a wave will do, but be able to surrender everything when everything is due. Those who have seen the movie the "The Cable Guy" will understand.

Tear duct communique

Tears are the gateway to our restored life. A matter of 'Befriending our tears' (Trevor Hudson, Touched by Resurrection Love). They are a sign of our surrender to another who can help us. Holding back our tears stops us from allowing others in. Jesus is standing in our midst saying ‘I am the Way, The Truth and The Life’ and we need to allow his Being to touch our being. Not just some teaching to muse over, some truth to ponder, some goal to work toward, but to experience his presence surround us, nurse us and listen to our most intimate of needs and longings.

Prayer - Let me care

My prayer today is a prayer for my soul to find love in the avenues and byways of all my relationships. To find a heart that cares when people hurt and eyes that are prepared to cry when people leave me. A prayer that I may see in the eyes of each person I know the glimpses of something I can treasure and care for as if it were the most exciting part of my life. As much as I long for the freedom of open spaces, mountain vistas, and silent spaces, may I too long for the joy of sharing my life with the lives of others. May I find peace not only in my own quietness but peace when in the company of strangers and those I know so well. My prayer today is that you will help me to become less satisfied in my own desire and self achievement and better fulfilled in the service of others.

Somebody needs it

John 12:7,8 Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

The table is set for extravagant love. Who would not host the most expensive meal for the one who gave you back your life. Jesus had wept over the death of this man Lazarus, tears more precious than expensive perfume. Tears of life. The costs of things are the discussion at this table. The cost of showing your love through tears, fragrance and abandonment of action. There is no wisdom when appreciating others completely. Surely the poor should get the benefits of a luxurious aroma sold for cash and hard cold coin. Not so with love, its costs are priceless and its timing is divine. This story helps us take the most and give it away to somebody. It is not an exchange for faceless cash in an envelope to be sent to names called poor. Those who we are through guilt made conscious of. Where can I break open the bottle of perfume today. On whose feet will it fall and what will be my excuse not to do it? Who will dissuade me from extravagant love? May our hearts rule.

God is chicken!

Luke 13:4 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!"

We are given an icon to hold onto. An icon to gaze upon. An icon so significant that it will reverberate with the essence of God. The icon is not easily described by words, because words are rational and develop from logical constructs that for centuries have erroneously been associated with masculinity. The icon breathes other dimensions that speak of heart matters, emotional things that are not easily scratched out on a black-board but are felt deeply in the impression of the hearts. This icon finds itself in the form of everything that is supposedly female, touched with broody emotion, and self sacrificing generosity. This icon has feathers and it is soft, cuddly and warm. You want to nestle up against the icon, the warmth of the feathers, and the shadow the wings make it nurturing and caring. The icon of a Hen and her chicks is the perfect picture of the God who cares for us. It speaks to us of the fussing, clucking and energy involved in keeping her loved ones in eyesight for protection. We should all have a picture of a hen and her chicks up on our walls. Somewhere close where we pray in the morning or evening. So now and again we can look up and without much thinking remind ourselves of God's attitude toward us. God cannot help clucking and fussing over us.