RoslynReynolds.com

Not me!

Posted On Monday, March 23rd, 2009

Under: Service, The Healing Power of Service, Unshaken Faith in Trials

I recently heard a story of a young child in a class on Sunday. The woman who was leading the discussion had been teaching the children the song “If The Savior Stood Beside Me” by Sally Deford.*  She asked the children, “If you could see the Savior standing next to you, what would you do differently?”

Several children raised their hands and offered their answers, ranging from being nicer to siblings to being more obedient to their parents.

Then one small child raised his hand and said, “Not me! I wouldn’t do anything different!”

Oh, to be able to say that – and to say it with confidence!

In the book Les Miserables, the good Bishop of Digne, lived so that he could say that. When Jean Valjean, an ex-convict, seeks shelter in the bishop’s home, the Bishop treats Valjean with the same kindness and courtesy he would a nobleman. When Valjean expresses his disbelief at being so treated, the bishop explains;

This house is not mine but Christ’s. It does not ask a man his name but whether he is in need. You are in trouble, you are hungry and thirsty, and so you are welcome…Let me assure you, passer-by though you are, that this is more your home than mine. Everything in it is yours. Why should I ask your name? In any case i knew it before you told me.

“The man looked up with startled eyes. ‘You know my name?’

‘Of course,’ said the bishop. ‘Your name is brother.’”

If we could see clearly we would see that we are all, truly, brothers and sisters. How our interactions would change if we remembered that!

May we each live each day so that we can, with assurance, say that we wouldn’t have to do anything differently if we could see the Savior standing there, where He actually is, right next to us.

In His love,
Roslyn

* see www.defordmusic.com

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