Slumber or Sacrifice

READ: MATTHEW 11:28-30; JOHN 14:26-27; 15:10-13; 1 JOHN 4:7-19

I was already asleep when my grandpa called, asking for help with Grandma’s diaper. I don’t feel especially loving when sleep-deprived, but the quiet stirring of God’s Spirit within me assured me what the next step was. I slipped on a sweater and puddle boots and stumbled down the darkened dirt road between our house and their snug log home.

With barely open eyes, I pushed open the door into Grammy’s room. She only weighed ninety pounds at that time, but it’s hard to lift someone when they don’t have strength to help.

My cousin and I got Grammy cleaned up and settled in bed. Her osteoporosis was so bad we had to prop the pillows and blankets around her twisted form to make her comfy. There was no way for her to lie straight.

The next night they didn’t need me. Grammy didn’t wake from her deep and quiet slumber. She didn’t wake the next day either. Only once after that late night did she stir, when I stopped by and brushed her white hair off her forehead to give her a kiss and say, “I love you.” She blinked weary eyes at me and said, “I love you too, Honey Girl.” She died the next morning.

Waking to go and help my grandma when she was in need made me so grumpy at the time. Yet, the still small voice of God’s Spirit urged me on, and so I went. As I walk by her house today and miss her—miss having tea from real china cups at her one-hundred-year-old oak table and hearing her urge me to take just one more cookie—what brings me the most joy is knowing our last exchange was one of love.

That late night, it was the Holy Spirit who urged and sustained my reluctant spirit onward. While it was tempting to ignore His call to show love to Grammy, I followed His gentle leading. When we obey—walking in the love of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit—we find true joy. Grammy taught me that. • Kristen Joy Wilks

• How does the truth of the good news of Jesus help us show love? How can loving others show Christ’s love for all of us?

• Have you ever felt a prompting from the Holy Spirit to show God’s love to someone? How can we know when a prompting is from the Holy Spirit? Who are trusted Christians you can talk to about this?

We love each other because he [Jesus] loved us first. 1 John 4:19 (NLT)