The past several days I have been riding an absolute rollercoaster of emotions. While I am incredibly thankful and excited to move, I am reminded of why this particular transition ranks among the top stressors in life! For an organized person just the idea of living amongst boxes is maddening; it's a constant visual in front of me of surrender - letting go; a reminder of the fact that things don't have to be perfect or done immediately. And that's only one piece of the puzzle when it has come to this move.
Shortly after we moved in to the new apartment we realized our hot water heater was broken. A major hint was the complete lack of hot water [insert sarcastic tone here]. For anyone who hasn't tried doing dirty dishes with cold water: picture in your mind's eye how quickly butter melts while washing a dirty butter knife using only a sponge and freezing cold tap water - and picture how easily it spreads around to the rest of your sink full of dishes...not a pretty situation. Thanks to the generosity of our new neighbors (and good friends), the Olivers, we had hot showers the past couple days. And thanks to people from church, like Kevin Knight (plumber extraordinaire...truly), we now have a brand new hot water heater and are able to re-wash all those buttery dishes, in addition to cleaning and bathing in our own house. As I drove to church this morning Tim called me with the news that Kevin was going to come to our home on a Sunday to install a new water heater. The only thing that made it even better was that we believe another friend from church was prepared to pay for the entire ordeal if our landlord took issue with the replacement (thankfully, the landlord was amenable, although not too quick to find a plumber on their own...). The very idea that someone we know would be ready and willing to pay for a water heater that's not even ours, just to ensure we had what we needed in the midst of an already stressful move...it leaves me struggling for words. What can only be described as a WAVE of gratitude washed over me; I started to cry and thank God for how the body of Christ works together to bring us comfort and help when we need it.
The sermon today was on 1 Corinthians 13 and I was so blessed to hear the words with a fresh understanding in my heart. My newfound appreciation for the common passage (often shared at weddings) comes from the fact that I've experienced this kind of love in the past week throughout the course of our move. I will continue to experience it tomorrow as other friends prepare us a dinner so we don't have to cook. And the best part is that this kind of outpouring of love is something that exemplifies true Christian community...as much as I don't take it for granted, this is what being a part of the body of Christ SHOULD look like when it's functioning properly. I have been a Christian since high school and I remain amazed at God's grace that I was ever invited into this family of believers.
"Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails...And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a, 13
