Love is in the Air...

(mingled with cigarette smoke)

We are two days away from my second favorite holiday of the year.  I love Valentine's Day.  All my heart decor & Valentine garb has been out for a couple of weeks now.  And the kids & I spent the night designing & constructing the annual Valentine boxes for school.  My lip still quivers when I think back to Grant's 2nd grade Valentine box that was made into a rocket, complete with a little astronaut and a conversation heart glued on that read "You Send Me".  It was unforgettable.  

But anyway--in preparation for this year, I've been thinking of all the ways we're going to celebrate.  I have some special little Valentine gifts for all the kids in my Bible Club at the TN School for the Deaf, and even though I was very busy today, I made time in my schedule to stop at a drugstore & pick up some Valentine candy for them as well.  I went in the store, Lily & Lola in tow, taking care to pick a type of candy that I thought the kids would enjoy.  It really wasn't convenient, but I didn't mind because I know it's for my ministry.

So, after a few minutes, Lola decided she didn't want to be there anymore & Lily got tired of helping me hold some things, so we went to the register where I saw Her.  This woman was standing there, blocking the counter where I was supposed to be.  I heard a cashier telling her to step back & wait as they tried to resolve the problem she had, but the woman never moved.   Meanwhile, as I stepped closer to her, my nose almost burned with the smell of cigarette smoke, and then she coughed in our direction.  I waited for her to step aside, but when she didn't, I was forced to squeeze up beside her to reach the cash register.  I began to think about how we were going to smell & what germs we were probably being exposed to that very second, and my frustration began to escalate.  Lola began crying, and I was just dying to get out of there & away from this woman who was so getting on my nerves.  And then she looked at me, smiled, & with a raspy voice, commented on how I had my hands full, but was doing a great job handling it all.  It was then that I finally saw her.  She was a person. She was a soul for whom Christ died.  I was struck with the awareness of my hypocrisy.  I was so busy doing "good", sacrificing for my ministry, that I was ready to trample whatever got in the way. 

Why do I so often say I care about groups of people, yet forget that individuals make up those groups?  I even notice other Christians I know doing this same thing, even risking losing their testimony over ridiculous things, yet sometimes I do the same things.  

So, as of today, I've added something else to the list of ways to celebrate Valentine's Day:  Love.