December 22, 2020

Photo by Jane Forney

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34

“Love is patient, love is kind…” 1 Corinthians 13:1

I am sitting in my office trying to process how to help the last three young clients who have come into my room.  Each one of them has expressed a feeling of emptiness, a feeling of having no emotions and being numb.  This is what the world has become for them. They feel unloved. The media, Covid, rising cases and the threat of shutting down again weighs heavily on their young minds. They are like you and I, struggling to find meaning in this incredibly tumultuous situation in which we find ourselves today.  We are living in unprecedented times and we have no idea what will happen tomorrow.  This is our new reality.

However, it is also a reality that God continues to love us and for all we worry and fret, it does not change things for God. He is eternal. He hears our prayers, and He answers them in His own way, not in the way we think he should answer them. 

If we take the time to listen and hear what God is telling us, we will realize that that we do live in a great world, a kind world, a world that may have lost its way, but that is inherently good.

God loves us and He has not left us. He is reminding us in every day actions, to value the little kindnesses that we see and are a part of.  He reminds us every day, what love actually means and what it looks like. It is not in the giving of the best gift, or the getting of what you wanted. It is not in the winning, or losing. It is not even in the competition to be the best, or have the most. 

Love is in the simple acts of kindness, in which we all partake.  A smile for a stranger, holding the door for a heavy-laden shopper, that quick note to say,” thanks”, even the simple act of having the patience to listen to someone else as they express their fears.  These are the true acts of love that will see the world through these times. 

We now have the chance to be more than we were, more centered on each other, away from the multitude of distractions which have caused us to lose our way. These kind and patient acts are the very things that make us remember that the world is not a bad place; it is a lost place.  It is these acts that remind us the very lessons God shared with us:  Love is patient and love is kind; and God’s greatest commandment, “love one another as he is loving us.”

Prayer: Dear God, help us to remember your most important lessons – to be patient, to be kind, and to love one another.

Davina Melanson has attended Port Williams Baptist church since she and her family moved to Port Williams 12 years ago.  She has worked in the AVRCE since then and is currently serving EMS and Hantsport as a School Counselor.