Effort part 1
I wrote a Rant series a little while ago called "Maximum Effort." And the point that I was trying to make was that love is the maximum effort that you can give someone. Literally giving everything you are and everything you have to someone and not expecting anything in return. So starting today I want to talk about... not "minimum" effort per se, but about how oftentimes the little things ARE the big things. And sometimes a little bit of effort goes a long way. The funny thing about this truth, though, is that when you're the one GIVING the effort it doesn't seem like a big deal. But when you're the one RECEIVING the effort it seems like the most important thing in the world. This is something that I have learned even more over the last few months. My girlfriend, Amanda, completely understands that this is my "love language." I feel uncomfortable when people buy me stuff--mostly because I feel uncomfortable NEEDING someone to buy me stuff--and nice words are nice, but I'm at the place in my life where, for the most part, what people think or say about me rolls off me like water off a duck's back. But effort... if you go out of your way to do something for me... I really appreciate that. The other day at the end of the school year I completely forget if I had ordered Logan a yearbook or not. And when the yearbooks came in Amanda took HER personal, extra yearbook and went down to Logan's class in order to make sure he had one. Not a HUGE deal, right? Just a junior kindergarten yearbook that he probably won't even HAVE anymore in a few years. But that blew me away. Knocked my socks off. Because it showed me, in a very real, tangible way, that she cared about me. And I know they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, but the way to THIS man's heart is ABSOLUTELY through my son. Caring about him is caring about me. Because he IS me. Which, by the way, is what I think the story about "whatever you do unto the least of them you've done unto me" is all about. What's my point? My point is that you don't have to literally move mountains to "prove" that you love someone. When Peter made the claim that he would go with Jesus all the way to the end--and, for the record, I believe he meant every word of what he was saying--Jesus let him know what was really going to happen. And it wasn't like Jesus was mad about it either. And then, after Jesus died, and was buried, and rose again, He gave Peter the chance to redeem himself by letting Peter know what it means to love Him. He told Peter HOW to love him. He told Peter to feed his sheep. To take care of people. I think seeing a need and meeting it is the biggest thing you can do sometimes. Even when it seems small. Because to the person WITH a need... its not small. Its huge. Feeding someone who is hungry might seem like an easy thing. Especially if you've already eaten. But if you HAVEN'T eaten, and somebody feeds you... that's life saving. If you're cold, and you don't have a coat, and someone gives you one... that's huge. If your kid might not have something that everyone else has, and (Oh, by the way, we weren't even dating at the time) someone makes sure he has it... that bit of effort means SO MUCH. So if you see a need, and you can meet it... I say do it. That's love.