What makes some things work?
I spent part of a summer working for a car dealership while in collage. The first half of that summer I was in the library completing the research for an economics professor. I came home looking for a job and applied with the owner of the dealership. I told him I just wanted out of the library. I wanted some outdoor labor involving some sweat. In less than an hour I was out back patching the parking lot with a shovel and a large pile of asphalt. He was able to accommodate my request. A revelation came to me while working on that job. Cars work because of petroleum. It really hit me as I spent a Saturday cleaning up all of the oil in the shop bays. Oil was everywhere, and it was everywhere because that is what enables cars to work. Petroleum is in the gears, in the transmission, in the motor, in the wheel bearings, in the tank, on the hinges. It is used through out the car, and without it the car would not go, yet we cover that aspect up of the car up because it is not attractive. In the process of cleaning up the floor, which was saturated in all of these oils, it became apparent cars work because of petroleum.
Christianity runs on love. Through watching my wife take care of our children I have come to grasp that love is often displayed in ordinary everyday ways. Love is often messy. I have seen it displayed in the changing of diapers, the wiping of noses, the cleaning up of spilt milk. She displays it in the listening ear and kind words she has. I know my own mother did these things when I was a child. I think it is often our mothers who teach us that love often means that we must get involved in the mess. Mom’s often see a need and without looking for thanks reach into that need and fill it. They are an example of living a life of love.
Christ said in John 14:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Christ got involved in the mess of life. He loved by being directly involved in the hard and often messy parts of life. He never turned from love nor did he ever shy away from the mess, and yet the mess never made him dirty.
As I celebrate this mother’s day I am more able to reflect on the extraordinary importance of love as an everyday ordinary practical act. For me to be made more like Jesus is to learn to live out love in the everyday messiness of life.
Rev. Patrick Evans