There’s nothing quite like the unconditional love of a Swazi child.
Today was a full to the brim day of ministry with two mini teams headed out for homestead visits in Mahlambi and Maloma, and then afternoon bible studies at Zikhoteni and Mgamudze. Finally, this evening we kicked off the pastor’s conference where many of our Swazi pastors have come to learn, grow, and rest together. A hot one, a busy one, a sweet one.
As we packed the van to leave Mgamudze today, a flurry of activity scattered around the church yard, I was blessed enough to catch the most precious of moments with Meaghan, one of our team members, closely cradling, lifting and swinging a Swazi child. The joy is evident in both of their faces (see the image below.) It’s palpable. It’s tangible. It’s felt.
Is there any other topic about which I could write on this Valentine’s Day other than love? Sure, it’s a little cliche, but it’s at the very heart of this work. At the very heart of God.
Love comes to us in so many forms – through family and friends, spouses and partners, acts of random kindness, sometimes spontaneously, sometimes all at once. Love breathes fresh life over tired bones. Love lifts spirits. Love changes us. Love compels us.
“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” 2 Corinthains 5:14-15
And I saw that love, so capable, so tangible, so real in how Meaghan smiled and held those little hands and cheeks. But we also witnessed it in the firm handshakes of old friends and pastors greeting one another; we saw it in the faces of homebound church members grateful for a parcel of food, but hungrier for the Word of God. We caught it across dinner tables and pew benches, thirsty souls waiting to be filled with the Lord. We glimpsed it in Hershey’s kisses and play-doh and whispered “thank yous” to gates held open and the bubbling laughter for a freshly pumped soccer ball waiting to be kicked.
And it is that gentle, compassionate, self-sacrificial could only be agape kind of love that keeps us going on the hot, busy days. It brings the sweet. It breathes fresh life over tired bones. It lifts spirits, it changes us, it compels us.
Lord, let us see Your love working in the Kingdom. Help us to catch glimpses of the wonder. Give us eyes for Your glory. Meet us with agape. Compel us to love like You. Amen.