Monday, March 25, 2013

Devotional 100 -Transforming Love



"Each of us needs to be inflamed with love for his kingdom, with hearts filled with gratitude, so that we will speak as agents of his boundless, transforming love."    Paul David Tripp

Matthew 18: 10 "Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven."

Behind the door stood a screaming child. The other special needs children had been taken to the playground, but this one remained in the room alone.  I had my hand on the door knob ready to enter the war zone. I was waiting for backup. The administration had called one of  the retired teachers back to the front because she was an expert marksman with this particular child. She knew the right words to speak and maintained the right tone of voice.

This wild child suffered from extreme autism, locked in a world I did not understand.  She had come to school that day with her shirt torn at the shoulder, bruises on her arms, a head of dark hair ---matted and tangled. I knew it was going to be a bad day by the way her black eyes darted from wall to wall and the guttural sounds coming from her clenched teeth. At one time she had bitten and scratched every teacher in that private school.

I, for one, did not want to be wounded in battle again and was gladly waiting for reinforcement.

She arrived, this tiny woman full of courage. Her gray hair swept neatly into waves tucked in a hair net. She wore a cotton dress and tennis shoes. She looked soft. She stood at the door with me and listened for a moment to the rage of the wounded child. She closed her eyes in a moment of silence, then looked up at me and said, "Are you ready?" I nodded.

As the door opened "wild child" was on the offense. She ran toward "Mrs. Soft" and grabbed her hand and bit right between the thumb and the fore finger, locked down like a pit bull.

I was ready to grab her hair and yank her off my colleague. I had done it before in defense of my own body. But she said, "Don't, I'm okay!"

I was privileged to witness the most remarkable courageous love that day. "Soft" spoke kindness to "Wild Child" and tamed the tiger.

When it was all over, Mrs. Soft stood before me with her bandaged hand, and reminded me, "You know it is all God. He is the One we praise and worship for what was accomplished this day."

 She was a woman of prayer and filled with the love of Christ. I pray God would help me and you to have this transforming  love for Him and His people. Spend time with your Savior this week.