Catch the Spirit
Please read Galatians 5:13-25 Common English Bible (CEB)
13 You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only don’t let this freedom be an opportunity to indulge your selfish impulses, but serve each other through love. 14 All the Law has been fulfilled in a single statement: Love your neighbor as yourself.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the self with its passions and its desires.
Some of you know that I taught middle school students for thirty-nine years. What you may not know is that in all that time I only had two items stolen from me. One was a cassette tape of “We Are the World,” and the other was my wallet/check book. That in itself may not sound like a big deal, but it is pretty remarkable considering that I did not start locking my classroom door until my twentieth year of teaching, coincidentally the same year my wallet/checkbook was stolen.
I know it sounds rather gullible of me to leave my belongings in an unlocked room, but I always was a trusting soul. I believed my school chum when she said she wouldn’t drop me on my tailbone as she helped me up from the gym floor. I believed a high school boyfriend when he said he was not going back to his former girlfriend. I even believed my doctor when he said that my mother’s morning sickness was not an indicator that I, too, would have morning sickness! Ha! But hope sprang eternal, and I continued to tempt fate.
The stolen cassette tape was not a big deal, but my wallet/check book was. Within the wallet were almost an entire book of checks, money that was to last me until payday, two credit cards, my driver’s license, my AFT card, my PEIA card, and my voter’s registration card, along with little notes I had collected from my children and husband. The cards I would later replace - at great cost. The notes were irreplaceable. Their loss WAS a big deal.
If I had the chance, what would I say to the person who took the wallet? I would say, “You really hurt me. You caused me inconvenience, you cost me money I did not have, but most of all you took some of my best memories.” And then maybe I would have that person read Galatians 5:13-25!
Recently I met a man who lived by the words and the spirit of that scripture. Jon and I were attending my granddaughter’s softball game, and I did not want to carry my purse to the ball field. I have a self-made money clip that I have fashioned from my credit card, debit card, and bills wrapped with a rubber hair band. I grabbed it, locked my purse in the car, and stuck the money clip in my pocket. In my defense, I want you to know that a woman’s jean pocket is not as deep as a man’s. Anyway, as we were leaving the game, the money clip fell out of my pocket and into a puddle. I did not see it. I did not feel it. We would have driven away if it had not been for the kindness and honesty of a man sitting close by.
He quickly grabbed it, chased us through the parking lot, and tapped Jon on the shoulder. I immediately recognized Ruby’s hair band. I thanked the kind stranger repeatedly; he just smiled and said that he was glad to be of service.
That was all there was to it. It did not last for more than a few minutes, but it made such an impression on me! Even as shallow as I am, I wasn’t just happy that he had not stolen my money and cards. I was happy because a man who did not know me at all, knew how anxious I would be and how stupid I would feel. He put himself in my place!
Whenever I think of this experience, I will see that man’s smiling face and hear Paul’s words, “You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only don’t let this freedom be an opportunity to indulge your selfish impulses, but serve each other through love. All the law has been fulfilled in a single statement: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Prayer - Heavenly Father, please let Your Holy Spirit fill my heart so that I, too, can serve others with love. Paul said that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I could use some help in all of those categories. I ask this in Your name.
Amen
Becky Warren
