Love Discarded or
Love Dispatched?
Love Dispatched?
19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along
the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your
houses and on your gates, Deuteronomy 11:19-21(NIV)
8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
John 15:8 (NIV)
I love wandering through the crowded aisles and crammed shelves of my local charity
shops. There is one shop in particular that I visit often, looking for treasures (and
sometimes finding them) hidden amidst the junk. But on a recent expedition, I felt
increasingly disheartened as I became aware of something that I had failed to notice
earlier - dozens and dozens of decorative items celebrating Christian faith were tucked
among the other donations.
Granted, some of the items were a tad more colorful or flamboyant than I would choose
for my home, but they had been lovingly produced and happily purchased at one time.
Now those declarations of faith in Jesus were relegated to the back of a crowded shelf,
gathering dust, given away because they were no longer wanted. Had the donors
stopped loving God? Had they stopped believing in their redeeming Savior and closed
their hearts to the Holy Spirit? Had they set their faith on a dusty shelf deep within
themselves as easily as they had given away their plaques and crosses?
Unhappily occupied with that train of thought, I joined the long and barely creeping
checkout line, clutching the vase and the little clock that I had chosen. With little to
divert me while I waited, I began people-watching. My attention was drawn to the two
older women ahead of me in line. They were happily bantering back and forth about
who would look best in the red blouse in their cart and whose generous figure would
possibly fit into the snappy slacks. I tossed out a friendly comment and soon the three
of us were chatting like old friends.
I learned that the women had been friends for over 30 years, first meeting as co-workers
and later weathering the storms of uneven promotions, distance, marriages and much
later, widowhood. As we stood there talking, one of the women noticed my shaking
hands and offered a spot in their cart for my things. When I explained that my shaking
was due to Parkinson's disease, the two did not look away in embarrassment or offer the
now too-familiar "I'm so sorry". Instead they said, nearly in unison, "God bless you"
and meant it. These two women of faith lifted me out of my gloomy mood with those
three powerful words and refocused my heart on blessings instead of abandonment.
As the shadow that had fallen on my day swiftly dissipated, I began to think of those
seemingly discarded Christian items as a delightfully subtle form of evangelism. As I
looked around, I saw crosses of all sizes and composition. I saw plaques imprinted with
prayers. I saw a truly lovely Nativity set. I saw some children's Bibles and some
pamphlets from a long-ago Bible study for teens. I was surrounded by items that
indicated their former owners' love of their Savior and their current place on those
overflowing shelves did not necessarily signify a departure from faith, but probably just a
simple change of decor or, better yet, a desire to share their faith! There was a certain
sweetness in the thought of those items waiting find new homes - homes where that
bargain angel or framed prayer might be the very first public expression of Christian
belief.
I will probably never see those two lively friends again, and they will never know that
they not only lightened the burden of my hands but they eased the burden of
disillusionment from my heart. May God bless you, ladies, just as you have called upon
Him to bless one who was a stranger to you.
2008 Elizabeth Williams
the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your
houses and on your gates, Deuteronomy 11:19-21(NIV)
8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
John 15:8 (NIV)
I love wandering through the crowded aisles and crammed shelves of my local charity
shops. There is one shop in particular that I visit often, looking for treasures (and
sometimes finding them) hidden amidst the junk. But on a recent expedition, I felt
increasingly disheartened as I became aware of something that I had failed to notice
earlier - dozens and dozens of decorative items celebrating Christian faith were tucked
among the other donations.
Granted, some of the items were a tad more colorful or flamboyant than I would choose
for my home, but they had been lovingly produced and happily purchased at one time.
Now those declarations of faith in Jesus were relegated to the back of a crowded shelf,
gathering dust, given away because they were no longer wanted. Had the donors
stopped loving God? Had they stopped believing in their redeeming Savior and closed
their hearts to the Holy Spirit? Had they set their faith on a dusty shelf deep within
themselves as easily as they had given away their plaques and crosses?
Unhappily occupied with that train of thought, I joined the long and barely creeping
checkout line, clutching the vase and the little clock that I had chosen. With little to
divert me while I waited, I began people-watching. My attention was drawn to the two
older women ahead of me in line. They were happily bantering back and forth about
who would look best in the red blouse in their cart and whose generous figure would
possibly fit into the snappy slacks. I tossed out a friendly comment and soon the three
of us were chatting like old friends.
I learned that the women had been friends for over 30 years, first meeting as co-workers
and later weathering the storms of uneven promotions, distance, marriages and much
later, widowhood. As we stood there talking, one of the women noticed my shaking
hands and offered a spot in their cart for my things. When I explained that my shaking
was due to Parkinson's disease, the two did not look away in embarrassment or offer the
now too-familiar "I'm so sorry". Instead they said, nearly in unison, "God bless you"
and meant it. These two women of faith lifted me out of my gloomy mood with those
three powerful words and refocused my heart on blessings instead of abandonment.
As the shadow that had fallen on my day swiftly dissipated, I began to think of those
seemingly discarded Christian items as a delightfully subtle form of evangelism. As I
looked around, I saw crosses of all sizes and composition. I saw plaques imprinted with
prayers. I saw a truly lovely Nativity set. I saw some children's Bibles and some
pamphlets from a long-ago Bible study for teens. I was surrounded by items that
indicated their former owners' love of their Savior and their current place on those
overflowing shelves did not necessarily signify a departure from faith, but probably just a
simple change of decor or, better yet, a desire to share their faith! There was a certain
sweetness in the thought of those items waiting find new homes - homes where that
bargain angel or framed prayer might be the very first public expression of Christian
belief.
I will probably never see those two lively friends again, and they will never know that
they not only lightened the burden of my hands but they eased the burden of
disillusionment from my heart. May God bless you, ladies, just as you have called upon
Him to bless one who was a stranger to you.
2008 Elizabeth Williams