We had another mini-conference at our church for area moms who have suffered the loss of a child, to gather for several hours of encouragement. Our message of hope is God-centered, but much of that God-centered message comes, not just through speakers behind a podium or through gifted musicians, but the message of caring and concern and understanding comes primarily from those who sit together around a table. Each mom is in a different place on her journey of grief. Some are still deeply grieving. Others have journeyed forward and grief may slow them down at significant times, but they are finding meaning, joy, and even laughter, once again. Each mom, though, is not absorbed by the others around her. Each mom, instead, is valued, accepted, given a place of safety, a place to voice her feelings, her concerns, the love she has for her child, and her desire to let God be the hope she holds onto. And, in a far greater sense than my Sunday morning return to church, it just “feels good.”
A group of religious leaders, angry with Jesus’ claims of deity and with His teachings that they refused to embrace, decided to use a woman as a commodity, a thing, an object, to confront Jesus, demanding that His grace would have her stoned. (I know, that is an “oxymoron.”) She had committed adultery, and the accusations of the religious leaders gave a picture that she was in the very act of adultery, intruded upon, forcefully taken from the bed she was sharing with a man who was not her husband, and the man was left behind. Literally, the woman was “used” like expendable property, and cheap property at that. Jesus’ response to the woman was far different as He expressed compassion, forgiveness, and the utmost of grace. And what was it that swelled within the heart of this woman? I can’t help but believe that her inner person was suddenly saturated with gratitude and with an awareness that maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t such a terrible person after all; maybe, just maybe, she had some intrinsic value to offer the world around her; maybe, just maybe, she would no longer have to hide in the shadows. It just “felt good.”
I read a devotional that suggested we should, “Receive love. Give love. Repeat.” We receive that love first from God, just like the woman Jesus responded to in love. Then, we give that love that God has given us, to others. Just like the moms at the mini-conference. Just like the ones who greeted me at church. And, it just feels good – for both the receiver and the giver.
– Bev
(Related Bible reading: John 8:1-11)
