It had been a busy morning in the drop in. People to train, lots of visitors, lack of staff on site, lots of demands on my time and energy. So I did what Jesus did after feeding the 5000 and withdrew to a quiet place. It is possible to get to a point where one more person, with one more demand will be one too many. It is no bad thing to learn the warning signs, know your limits and take time out away from the crowd to get restored.
Then the phone rang. Nothing in me wanted to answer it but I knew I was the only member of staff available.
"Can you help my friend?" Nothing in me wanted to but then I remembered a line that had struck me during the preach on Sunday night "If in doubt... love".... sometimes it's right to love ourselves enough to take a break from the demands of the crowd. However, most of Jesus' ministry seems to have centred around being interrupted by people and he still managed to love them and be available to meet their needs. I took a deep breath, said a quick prayer and listened... within the first 30 seconds I knew it was not going to be simple & straight forward and I felt very tempted to stop loving and listening and tell her I couldn't help. But the words in the back of my mind wouldn't go away "If in doubt... love"
Love is so often inconvenient, a sacrificial giving of our time and ourselves that frequently costs us. Right now it was costing me the list of things I had to do but that was all. All she needed was a listening ear and a bit of my time to find out the information she needed to help her friend. Information I would have to search for and contact a colleague about all of which would take more time.
An hour later I rang her back. She was very appreciative for the tiny bit of help and information I could give her. "God bless you" she ended the call... and I realised he had.
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