Here is a story by Sharon Glasgow of Proverb 31 Ministries. Proverbs 31 Ministries is a non-denominational, non-profit Christian ministry that seeks to lead women into a personal relationship with Christ, with Proverb 31:10-31 as a guide. This Proverb reads:
Who can find a woman of worth? Far beyond jewels is her value. Her husband trusts her judgment; he does not lack income. She brings him profit, not loss, all the days of her life. She seeks out wool and flax and weaves with skillful hands. Like a merchant fleet, she secures her provisions from afar…
She is clothed with strength and dignity, and laughs at the days to come. She opens her mouth in wisdom; kindly instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband, too, praises her: “Many are the women of proven worth, but you have excelled them all.” Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Acclaim her for the work of her hands and let her deeds praise her at the city gates.
With this proverb in mind, Glasgow’s story begins: We bought a charming old white farm house. The first day we lived there the well dried up. The next month the furnace blew up. The same month I found out I was pregnant and had no maternity insurance. Then the electric wires started to burn through the walls. Then, when we jacked the house up, the plaster walls cracked.
We decided to gut the house. We chose one room to live in while the demolition began on the rest of the house. Friends came and helped with the gutting. They took sledge hammers and ripped the walls down. Over the next year we redid the wiring, plumbing, walls and put a new heating system.
It was a challenging year, being pregnant and having all of those hardships, but I had a friend. She wasn’t just any friend; she was the living example of our verse for today [laying down one’s life]. She brought us meals every week for a year. I would go to the bank and find that she had made a deposit into our account. She would mow our grass. She would call other friends to come help us get the day-to-day labor done. If there was a job to be done, she did it. She lived out the example of being a servant, in front of our kids, every day.
She and her husband devoted countless hours to helping us drywall, paint and everything else you can imagine. They weren’t rich by any stretch of the imagination, and they certainly didn’t have extra hours in their day; they always gave with sacrifice.
One day I asked Jackie, “Why are you doing all of this when you don’t even own your own house?” She paused for a while and then said, “Why would you ask that? Isn’t this what Christ tells us to do for our friends?” What could I say in response to that? It is what Christ expects of us, but so few of us take Him literally.
I never deserved such a friend. I think that’s what touched my heart the most. She was a living example of how Christ laid down his life for us. That was 10 years ago. She and her husband have moved further away so we don’t see them as often, but one day not long ago a truck backed into our driveway and a brand new Sears riding lawn mower rolled down the ramp with a bow on it.
Who else would do this but a friend who bears another’s burdens and in doing so fulfills the law of Christ? Who do you know in your life that doesn’t necessarily deserve it but needs a friend that will lay down his life for them?
Dear Lord, Thank you for friends! Help me to be a better friend to those You have called into my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. (end)
Indeed, thanks for true friends who lay down their lives.
Deacon David Pierce
Comments
Post a Comment
Please THINK before you write!