By Lacey Gunter
One the eve of Easter there are many wonderful messages I could share. But what seems to be sticking in my mind is the grandness of Charity.
I recently finished a beautiful middle grade novel, Wonder, by R. J. Palacio. It is a book about a boy with severe facial abnormalities and his experience attending school for the first time in 5th grade. It compels the reader to truly examine how we treat others who are quite different from we are and challenges them to choose kindness over fear, anger or ridicule. One of the quotes from the book really stuck with me today.
It got me thinking how every one of us can be a reflection of God and Christ.Christ's gift to us was an infinite atonement, a gift that could only be born of an infinite love. A love that big requires many hands to carry and distribute. God needs us to be those hands. When we carry that love out to the world, we are reflecting God and Christ's face, hands and heart. By so doing, we carry more than love out to the world. We start to carry souls, souls who are troubled and hurting. We lift them towards Heaven and put them one step closer to the Healer of Souls.
As we ponder the utterly amazing gift of the atonement, in this beautiful Easter season, I want to be one of those hands that carries his love. I also challenge each of you to carry that love. Let it be your gift to Christ and the rest of the world. Choose to love.
One the eve of Easter there are many wonderful messages I could share. But what seems to be sticking in my mind is the grandness of Charity.
I recently finished a beautiful middle grade novel, Wonder, by R. J. Palacio. It is a book about a boy with severe facial abnormalities and his experience attending school for the first time in 5th grade. It compels the reader to truly examine how we treat others who are quite different from we are and challenges them to choose kindness over fear, anger or ridicule. One of the quotes from the book really stuck with me today.
"If every single person in this room made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than is necessary - the world really would be a better place. And if you do this, if you act just a little kinder than is necessary, someone else, somewhere, someday, may recognize in you, in every single one of you, the face of God."
It got me thinking how every one of us can be a reflection of God and Christ.Christ's gift to us was an infinite atonement, a gift that could only be born of an infinite love. A love that big requires many hands to carry and distribute. God needs us to be those hands. When we carry that love out to the world, we are reflecting God and Christ's face, hands and heart. By so doing, we carry more than love out to the world. We start to carry souls, souls who are troubled and hurting. We lift them towards Heaven and put them one step closer to the Healer of Souls.As we ponder the utterly amazing gift of the atonement, in this beautiful Easter season, I want to be one of those hands that carries his love. I also challenge each of you to carry that love. Let it be your gift to Christ and the rest of the world. Choose to love.
What a beautiful quote, Lacey. And I accept the challenge!
ReplyDeleteI always choose to love
ReplyDeleteLove this! I had a friend who has moved away, and I remember once going to a party where there was a boy in a wheelchair, who clearly was unable to communicate normally. I will never forget how she walked right up to him with a smile and introduced herself and asked his name (his mother answered for him) and she just said, “It’s very nice to meet you! Are you having fun?” She kept eye contact with him and talked to him and treated him like he was just like any other healthy and able person. I was so impressed by her example. It’s hard to step out of our comfort zone sometimes to go that extra mile, and I always worry that I saying or doing the wrong thing, but she showed me that love is never the wrong thing. :-)
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