Love is a Shelter

Inspired by Lyndsay, in this video, I prayed for my clients on my way to work today.  The drive from our house to the office is a solid half hour at best, so I have plenty of quiet time before the noise of the day begins.  I prayed today specifically for the people I knew I would interact with, either by phone or in person, I prayed for co-workers I knew I would see, and I prayed for clients who I knew I wouldn't see, but who were on my heart.  The difference it made was unbelievable!!! My attitude toward my clients was different, my feelings toward them were different.  My heart was softer toward those certain few who always seem to know how to rub me the wrong way or drain me. My words and actions were probably even different.  And as a result, they probably reacted to me differently as well.  When I began my job almost a year and a half ago, I was diligent in praying for the people I met and worked with each day.  I guess as I have become comfortable. I have become TOO comfortable and passive.  Or some days, I am just overwhelmed, and feel as though the LAST thing I want to do is even think about work... let alone set aside enough time and energy to pray about it!
Like me, Lyndsay has a fairly "common" job.  She is a teacher; there are lots of those out there.  And there are both good and bad ones.  I am a social worker. There are lots of us floating about also, and some are great while others are not so great.  Lyndsay is exceptional at what she does.  Because she loves in an exceptional way... in a way that is foreign to this world. 
If we all could, and would, love like this... day in and day out... through the stressful  through the mundane... We will make an extraordinary difference.  That is what Christ's extraordinary love does.  It changes us, and it changes those with whom we come in contact.  If we pour His love onto others, we will be blessed beyond what we can imagine.  And they will see love, possibly in a way they have never seen it before.  "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us." - Ephesians 3:20. 
Maybe it is kind of like a flow chart:  When we pray, God's love is activated in us.  It is moved to action, and through our actions of displaying God's love to those around us, He will, through His power, do more than we can ask with the love that we share... "according to His power!" And I learned this morning that prayer is the key to accessing and activating that power.  Prayer opens the door for Christ to move on in!



Warren Barfield sings, "Love is not a place where we can come and go as we please.  It is a house that we go in and never leave."  As Christians, every moment of our lives should be lived in love.  His life in us should be undeniable. 
And then, we would be extraordinary teachers, social workers, mothers, fathers, doctors... Our love, displayed through word and deed, is Christ to those who may never see Him anywhere else in their worlds.  Love may be the only shelter some people ever know; the only constant in a world of change, trials, hunger, relentless sunshine, or bitter cold, soup kitchens and welfare lines, street ditches, or highway bridges.  The love of Christ reaches through all these things, all these places.  It changes and heals.  And we have it in us.  It is our calling to give it away.