True Love
Went to see my brother this morning. The drive there was actually longer than our visit. Have to admit that I questioned if it was worth it, but it seemed to be the only time we could fit it in. He was in desperate need of some groceries, so rather than mailing him money, I decided to give him what he needed in person. In the end, I was so thankful that I did.
We only had 30 minutes to catch up, so we sat down at his table and talked. We talked about his job, apartment, and the fact that he had gained some weight – all normal stuff. The only question he had for me was if I had stayed in touch with various people (he named several) that were my friends when I was in school. Somehow this always comes up in our conversations. I’m not quite sure what his fascination is with this, but his memory for people/names amazes me!
I’m telling you what, even though he can be SO frustrating sometimes – God uses him to pierce my heart in a magnificent way. We only had about 5 minutes left before he would be heading for work when it happened… God used him. Again.
He walked into the other room for a moment and then returned to the table with a memorial pamphlet. He placed it in front of me without saying a word. Sometimes communicating with my brother is like a guessing game – that’s part of his disability. Sometimes he’ll do something without explaining, and then looks at you (sometimes with a slight smile or a nod) until you respond.
After looking at the young man’s picture on the front of the pamphlet, I opened it up to see what was inside. The first thing I noticed was this scripture: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” ~ John 15:13. It was then that I realized who this young man was. I looked up, and then Rob began to talk about his friend’s viewing. He talked about how sad it was, how very sad he felt, and that there were so many people there. Last, he explained how he died. As I listened to the details, I remembered hearing about it on the news. Two teenage boys tried to save a friend from drowning. A teenage girl went over a dam and was caught in a boil. Both boys died when trying to save her life – a friend’s life. Whew…. What a heartbreaking story.
It was time to go. We hugged goodbye, and before he got into his car he looked at me with those stunning, light blue eyes…. smiled and nodded. I wondered if he knew the impact he had just made on my heart. What an example of love.
As I drove home I asked myself – what am I willing to do for a friend? For a family member? Do my actions reveal the greatest love of all?
Such an eye-opening, humbling lesson on selflessness. True love.
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