March – Love in Action

When I was seven, my family moved to Essex, where my dad became the  pastor of a small Evangelical church. In that congregation was a woman who had recently been widowed.

One day, when I was seven or eight, I was at her house playing with her children. At some point I casually mentioned that I loved a television programme called The Animals of Farthing Wood. Some of you may remember it — a BBC children’s cartoon that was, in hindsight, surprisingly traumatic. Animals seemed to disappear at an alarming rate! But I loved it.

This lady overheard my comment, and then, without any fuss or announcement, she began buying me the accompanying magazine that was released each week. She kept buying it for me — not for a month or two — but for over two years!!

She was raising her large family on her own. And yet she saw this little boy who liked a cartoon about woodland animals, and she chose to be kind to him. Week after week. I remember she would hand the magazine to my Dad every Tuesday night at the Church Bible Study in a WH Smiths bag with the words “This is for David, tell him they’ll be another one next week”

It may sound like a small thing. A magazine. But to me, it was enormous. I felt seen. I felt remembered. I felt chosen. In the midst of her own grief and responsibility, she made space to delight in something that delighted me.

Looking back, I realise that what she gave me was far more than a magazine. She gave me a tangible expression of love. Through that simple, faithful act, she quietly shared something about the heart of God, that He notices small things, that He delights in giving good gifts, that he sees me.

That wonderful gentle lady probably never knew the impact she had on me. But she shaped the way I understand love. Even now over 30 years later the impact of her kindness has still remained and continues to shape me.

As we continue this season of Lent, here are two questions you may wish to ponder

How is God showing me love through others?
How can I quietly show love in a practical way to someone around me?