Read John 13:1-15
Doing for one another is a gift that we give to each other. The giver and the receiver, both give, both receive. One more time, doing for one another is a gift that we give to each other.
In a small town where we lived for a number of years there was a small Methodist Church. We shared a minister who drove out each Sunday from Austin with another small Methodist Church a half hour from our community. One year, during Lent, our Minister announced that we would all gather one evening and she would wash our feet and then we would wash each others feet. I couldn’t imagine our Minister washing our feet. We were just ordinary country folk and she a Minister. My family and I didn’t go. As I have matured, I have regretted that I didn’t allow her that opportunity to minister to us and even more so that I didn’t allow my family the opportunity to minister to each other in return. They were gifts that were to be exchanged but I couldn’t see it in that way at the time.
We are a giving, nurturing people. We enjoy doing for others but it’s not so easy to allow or to assist people to do for us. When someone is going through a difficult time, we ask what we can do for them or how can we help? What we want to know is something very specific that we can do to alleviate their immediate pain or make their immediate circumstances more bearable. We want to do something that means something to them. We want to help.
When it is we who are going through trials, accepting help is not so easy. Even telling people what we need is difficult even though we can put some of those needs into words. We don’t like to tell people what it is we need because we aren’t comfortable being the one who needs. We need to keep in mind that it is a giving experience to allow others to help us when we are in need. We are giving them the opportunity to do as Scripture teaches us to do, and we are giving ourselves the opportunity to receive as Scripture teaches us to do. Loving and caring for each other is part of our Christian experience.
Becky Cockrum
Prayer: Lord, help me to see that receiving is as important as giving and help me to be prayerfully adequate at both giving and receiving as you have taught us we should be. Amen.
