I wake up and start the day with my main resources. A filling breakfast full of natural sugars (juice is your best friend when you have low blood sugar). A shower with the scent and suds of your favourite soap. A put-together but comfortable outfit where I can get around easily.
Most importantly, if I want to have a good day, I go to the Bible, to my devotional (My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers), and my notebook and I meditate on the words I read that day. It is my biggest resource because it is my biggest motivation to using my biggest weapon in my line of work.
I desperately need love to give.
Most of you know that I work with children and that is my passion. I love my field of work. I love listening to children. I love that I volunteer in a nursery. I am constantly sending off CVs and job applications to work with children because I know that this is what I want to do.
However, if I am honest, this kind of work is not easy. It is physical, mental, and emotional work. It is the emotional side of it that can easily drain me if I am not careful.
By doing this kind of hard and difficult work that I have realised the importance of long-suffering and sacrificial love. Not because I am so good at giving it but because I realise how important it is for others to receive it.
This is something that I see over and over, as someone who works with people and as someone who is a human being constantly interacting with other human beings. We don’t give each other the love we need, but we judge and we label. We label others as the ‘trouble-maker’, as ‘aggressive’, and ‘attention-seeking’. We ignore each other when we are too difficult.
If I have learned anything by caring for children, it is that children need to know that they are valued and accepted by you. That is the foundation of good and positive care, of valuing those in your care.
However, I think that this principle has broader horizons, applying in our friendships and in our communities. Everyone needs to be valued, accepted and loved. Everyone needs each other to encourage to move forward, even when everyone else gives up on us. Especially when we are hurt by those people. Especially if we despair if they can ever change. Love is long-suffering, and that means we suffer long in order to love someone.
Jesus loves us with a love that meets us in our aggression, our frustrations, and our overwhelming and soul-destroying pain. He is not afraid of our temper tantrums, our self-destructive habits, and our emotion-led behaviour. To love us in that way was a sacrifice, and He suffered long for us.
As I take in my resource before I go off to work, I was reminded of this constantly. This is the love that is given to us. This is the love that we need to give back.
All my love,
Savvy
I love you, Savvy! I miss you so much. ❤ Rachel
Savvy & Rachel 