Scrubbing Toilets With Love

"Sisters' Sledge"major hit ,is resounding in my little head on this murky,grey winter day.

The past few weeks have been a gloomy succession of unfortunate events,but I ain't here to moan - on the contrary, I would like to acclaim what is unique and totally awesome about Christianity. High concepts such as "love" have too often been misused,abused and,quite frankly, overused so frequently and injustly that it has become senseless and irrelevant. Nevertheless,it will never cease to amaze me when I see Christ's love practically demonstrated in the lives of those who claim to be his followers.

As most of you are aware of,my mom is sick at the moment and I live abroad which means that I cannot be with her all the time. However my absence has been wonderfully replaced by an overwhelming amount of friends from church who have been more than mere friends,but more like family, human hands and feet of metaphyisical divinity-they have been visiting,calling,cooking,doing injections,ironing and even scrubbing our toilets! In our time of trouble, they were lifting us up and even people on the other side of the globe (some of whom had never even seen or met us) were expressing their support and praying for us.

Another heart lifting experience happened this morning. I was on the bus on my way to work with my mind full of thoughts and my heart full of worries, being concerned about mom going into hospital and feeling enraged about the fact that I had only come back from my Christmas break to discover that the house had nearly burnt down on Christmas Eve...grrrrrrrrrrr!Thank God for my fire alarm and my nosey neighbours who called the fire brigade straight away!
Anyway, this guy behind me is reading a book and the guy behind him sees he is reading a Bible and sits by him and asks him if he is a Christian. The two lads start having a lovely conversation full of genuine affection and mutual interests obviously making each other's day and most likely unaware of having made my day too.

Or it is like when I first moved to sunny Salford and, nearly instantly, I had not only acquaintances and neighbours, but I found in the church people who were as close as family.

Moral of the story: my world travel,my struggles,my joys have time and again offered me the opportunity to test that Christianity unites strangers into a huge loving family. Yes, indeed, my dear Sisters' Sledge: "WE'RE FAMILY, I'VE GOT ALL MY SISTERS WITH ME!"

This tale is about love but it is also about Hope. I have been increasingly frustrated over Christmas about the fact that no matter how hard you work, the world does not seem to change. However God-given Hope tells different and brethes confidence in me: yes the world is, pardon my French, sh** at the best of times, but as Mother Theresa once said: "there are no big acts; it is small acts of kindness done with a great love that can change the world".