Make Me a Blessing

"Out in the highways and byways of life, many are weary and sad;
Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife, making the sorrowing glad.

Make me a blessing, Make me a blessing, Out of my life, May Jesus shine;
Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray, Make me a blessing to someone today.

Tell the sweet story of Christ and His love; Tell of His power to forgive;
Others will trust Him if only you prove true every moment you live.

Give as 'twas given to you in your need; Love as the Master, loved you,
Be to the helpless a helper indeed; Unto your mission be true."

An online sermon I listened to this week reminded me to be a blessing to the people around me, especially the unsaved. One of the elements of being a blessing and showing others that you are one, is to be able to love them, beyond anything and everything. As the hymn goes, out of my life, may Jesus shine... love as the Master loved you.

The next day, the Lord showed me exactly how difficult it was to love, beyond and above.

After school on Friday, the Spouse asked the usual question of how the day was. My answer was not of my usual ok; "it was bad".

I felt defeated the moment I walked into the class. The Great Pretender sneered at me, stuck out his tongue and walked off. Oh bummer, do you hate me that much? Mr Insecure was his usual frenzy running self, filling up the tiny classroom. The feeling of helplessness was rising. When it was time to get the morning greeting started, I tried to be as 'zen' as possible in getting the kids playing under the table to get on the mat. The Great Pretender again, sneered at me, stuck out his tongue, and added a spit at that. I stopped short of giving him a tight slap and tried to pull him out from under. I kept muttering to myself 'love, love, love...'

As we struggled through trying to get the kids to stay in position, midway through the usual singing routine, the Great Pretender and Mr Insecure frusted L-Sensei so much that she pulled them aside and spoke to them sternly. Both looked apologetic and answered diplomatically to the rhetorical questions being posed to them. The minute they turned away from L-Sensei, they filled the room with their running about and mock scares. Love, love, love, I reminded myself again.

At that instant, I understood how it must be between God and us too. How we frust Him so much that He often has to drag us aside to chastise us. How we are immediately apologetic to the obvious sins that we are committing. How He forgives and lets go, and when we turn away from Him, we immediately go back to what we were doing before.

Trust me, what a revelation to understanding what love is all about!