Sshhh. . .read this in your mind as a whisper. . .ssshhh. . .My brother is nine years older than me, my sister 5 years older. Yep, that makes me the baby. The three of us are different from each other in many ways, yet we have one thing in common. We are people of few words. None of us are big talkers, yet we show our love in quiet ways.
When I was little, our parents divorced. My sister and I stayed with mom. We had very little money and shopping for new clothes did not happen very often. My sister was skilled with the sewing machine and reading patterns and she sewed me new outfits every now and then. A new top, a new dress made me feel special and I would be on top of the world. Her quiet love came through.
My brother, a master carpenter, made me 6 ½ ft. x 5 ½ ft. bookshelves for my 16th birthday present. He built four drawers at the bottom. It was beautiful to me and I loved it. This went into my bedroom at the time to hold all my teenage treasures. His quiet love came through.
As I ponder on this, another powerful quiet love comes to my mind…Jesus love. When Jesus was being tortured and mocked, how did He respond? With quiet love. When the people sneered at him, spit at him and made fun of Him for saying He was the Son of God, how did He respond? With quiet love. When they drove the nails into His hands and feet and hung Him up on the cross, how did He respond? With quiet love.
Imagine the noise coming from the crowds accusing Him, demanding He be crucified. Imagine the noise coming from the ones administering the torture, and the crowds growing louder and louder. What did Jesus do? He remained quiet. Why? Because He was doing the Fathers will. Why? Because He loved the Father and He loved you and me so much that there were no more words for Him to speak. He spoke the loudest with no words through His blood being spilt, carrying that heavy, wooden cross, and hanging on that cross suffering physically until God received His spirit.
His quiet love was so powerful that it touched one of thieves to his side and made this thief realize that Jesus was who He said He was and the thief wanted to be remembered by Him.
Such powerful, amazing love came through the quietness of this man, Jesus, through the most brutal of events towards Him.
I can’t leave the story here though. You know how it ends. He was raised three days later. Was there a parade? Was there fanfare? No…just a quiet entrance back into the presence of His disciples, and then 40 days later, a quiet ascension back to Heaven. There is something to be said for quiet. It’s in the quiet that we hear our Saviors voice the loudest. In our quiet times, let Him hear our voice telling Him how much we love Him, and then when we are out in the noise of the world, show Him our love by our actions, however quiet they may be.
My Lord shows His quiet love every single minute of every single day. He is always there by my side helping me through every moment, blessing me every which way, guiding me to see all the gifts He is giving. My bookshelves from my brother now proudly sit in my dining room, holding books written by ones who love the Lord, and with loved ones pictures in their frames. I feel my brothers love through this masterfully crafted piece. My sister shows her quiet love now through the many prayers she offers up for me and my family. My siblings live over 700 miles away from me now, but every once in awhile, they call me to see how I’m doing. The quiet love flows through the telephone lines and makes me smile. I think they are smiling too…in their own quiet way.
May you all be blessed as you ponder this week about the death, buriel and resurrection of our Lord and Savior.
sshhhh. . .do you hear the quiet love?
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5 comments:
Quiet love. That's why we need to be still in His presence, so we can fill that quiet love. Sometimes I get so busy doing my own thing, and then I feel His quiet love gently pull me back to Him. Amazing love!
Kristin.. this was so beautifully written. And you are so right.. the quiet gestures of love speak the loudest when we really do pay attention. I sure do appreciate my quiet times with the Lord.. life can be so noisy and busy and it all seems to drown out His voice. There's one more quiet time/quiet love that I cherish... I'm sure you do too.. those quiet moments when there's no talking, but plenty loving ;-) (That was my favourite in the Easter buttons too!)
Love & Blessings on your quiet time with God today. I hope and pray He lifts you high to give you some quiet love.
Oh my. Kristin. Thank you so much for visiting my blog and for leading me back to yours. I often feel that the words that fall to my page when I journal are God's Quiet way of helping me see myself with honesty and truth. I can see you have found this as well.
Blessings...
Nails were not enough to hold God-and-man nailed and fastened on
the Cross, had not love held Him there.
-- Catherine of Siena
Read this quote earlier in the week and its resonated with me as we look to Easter this Sunday. Thought you would enjoy. Love that Love.
Kristin,
As you retold the story of Jesus in your own words in this post, for the first time I was able to see the quiet love of our Savior - the quiet love that He showed for us during His time on the cross.
This was a beautify story and testimony, Kristin about the importance of love. In it, you showed that love doesn't have to be "proclaimed from the mountain tops," for it could be quietly found in the stillness of the valley.
Blessings,
-L. Rose
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