I recall that moment when our first-born was laid in my arms. She was wrinkly, pink and her brown eyes stared piercingly into mine. She was absolutely gorgeous. I had never felt so much love, so much protection over anyone before.
She was helpless. She completely depended on her parents to care for her. We kept her fed, warm, changed, and loved.
Maybe you’re not yet a parent, but have cared for new puppies or kittens. Before their eyes open, they can’t even see. They completely depend on their mothers, and human caregivers to help them sustain life until they can help themselves.
Caring for new life requires us to be gentle. It demands kindness, tenderness, carefulness, and sweetness. We take our time, not rushing the care. We tenderly handle new life, careful to support head and neck. We make sure the baby is the right temperature- not too cool or too warm. Maybe you, like me, find yourself taking a moment to just bask in the sweetness of this infant-time. Because if life has taught us anything, time slips away from us at an alarming rate and before we know it, life has us off to the races, where we must hurry, hurry, hurry.
At that pace, empathy takes a back-seat to the clock. Our once tender care is replaced with verbal directions to ‘hurry up’ as we’re already late.
Galatians 5:13 instructs us to “serve one another in love.” I picture the best service is that which I provide for new life: the kindness, the tenderness, the carefulness and sweetness. The unhurried care that not only tends to the young, but also warms my own heart.
Maybe you, like me, find that the people I care for the most, my family, often don’t receive that tender care on a daily basis. They’ve ‘aged out’ so-to-speak. When talking with my family, they told me most days, they do feel that tender care. But other days…
Those days are the ones that haunt my mind. I want my children to leave home with the positive memories, feeling that each was loved abundantly. I don’t want them feeling I was too busy.
Then I think of friends and church family, colleagues and the cashier I see weekly as I pick up groceries.
Am I serving others with love? Am I being the hands and feet of Jesus to whoever is in my path today?
I know to serve in love, I need His love overflowing within me. To get there, I must spend time with Him; because I will never get there on my own.
Gentleness is not only a fruit of the Spirit, but it often is the way to make others feel
Seen,
Heard,
Loved.
As with all the Fruit of the Spirit, to grow in any area, we need to spend more time with Him, His word, and both communicating and listening to Him.
He wants to help us love each other, and to love each other well. He is not expecting perfection from us. He just wants us to lean into Him.
When we lean into Him, we will receive the tender care a baby or a new puppy receives. And when we completely rely on Him, He will provide for all our needs, growing us into someone who can love as He loves.
Jesus wants to teach us how to love one another through relying on Him. Let’s ask Him to help us to do just that.
Prayer: Thank You Lord for Your tender love to me. Please remind me to prioritize spending time with You. As I learn to lean into You, I feel myself changing and growing as I yield to You. Help me to develop a gentleness about myself. Help me to love others the way You love me. In Jesus’s name, Amen.