Just a gentle reminder about walking in love…

I have a friend and former Pastor who was in a Christian Rock Band. They were on tour and at a restaurant late one night. The waitress was super rude and not getting their orders right. To say she wasn’t doing a good job was putting it mildly. Some of the band members were starting to get upset and one said he was going to say something to her about how rude she was! In other words, he was going to let her have it! That’s when one of the band members, who remained calm while the others were getting frustrated, reminded them that they were representing Jesus and were supposed to be the people who stood out as light in the darkness.

He called the woman over to the table and started to talk to her… he said “It appears you are having a bad day, are you ok?” She broke down in tears and told him of the tragedy going on in her life… she was a stripper and a waitress. She was trying to make ends meet. She was broken. They invited her to church the next night where they were playing and told her how God loved her and had a plan and purpose for her life. The next night they saw her walk in…at the end of the service she gave her heart to the Lord and got baptized.. she then spoke to the congregation and told them how the night before she had determined when she got off work she was going to kill herself… in desperation she prayed… she wasn’t sure God would even hear her .. and she said “I need help, I need a sign or I’m going to end it.” She went on to tell about the customers from the night before who spoke life into her and invited her to church.

She stopped stripping and started serving the Lord. She worked hard, got a better job, met a good man and got married and when the band went back 5 years later they didn’t even recognize her as the same woman as she got up to sing with the Choir. The next time they went back a few years later, they found she had passed of cancer.

My friend said he can’t even imagine what would have happened to that woman if they had been rude to her and yelled at her instead of showing compassion and love. It reminds me of a saying my mom had hanging on the wall in a frame – “People need loving the most when they deserve it the least.”

God gave me grace and mercy and love when I definitely didn’t deserve it. I look back at the time my mom was dying of cancer. There were times I was rude and not myself, and had to humble myself and apologize. Thankfully those I apologized to showed me love and forgiveness. I love people – I want to help people – but if I’m being transparent, there are still days at work when it’s super stressful that I don’t get it right and am a bit short with someone who walks in at the wrong time. I have to humble myself and go apologize.

The bible talks over and over again about walking in love. I firmly believe it’s because the devil doesn’t understand love, so he can’t defeat it. It’s easy to be angry, rude and bash others on social media. It’s a bit harder to take the high road and put the phone down, don’t make the post, pray for the person who offended you – or reach out to them and speak life. It’s also a good idea to not get so easily offended… Life’s too short to sweat the small stuff (and most of it really is the small stuff).