There are those who come into our lives and then they drift away. Sometimes they drift so far away that we aren’t able to speak to them, to see them, or to care for them. Perhaps we wake up in the night thinking of them or something happens in our lives that takes us back to a time and place that included them. Maybe we try to reach out with love and kindness but it just isn’t received.
These are the burdens we usually don’t share with others. We keep it deeply hidden in our hearts. Honestly, it just hurts too much to bring it up. And yet these are exactly the hard topics Christ puts on my heart to write about.
Here was my recent strategy for dealing with the burden of those beyond our reach. I prayed about it. I prayed that God would just lighten that load and help me to not care so much. That was such a smart idea, right?
As my loving Father, he comforted me. And then He probably shook his head. Caring too much is exactly where He wants me to be. It is by His love that all men will know we are His disciples.
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His love working through us is what can serve as a shining light that leads others back to Him. In all His vast wisdom, surprisingly He wants us to be part of His plan. It is understandable that we hurt and it is reasonable to be burdened but it should never take away our love, our compassion, our care for others. Even those beyond our reach.
This summer, my son traveled on a mission trip to an area that just wasn’t receptive to the message. When he came home he told me something that was said by the mission worker that had relocated his entire family to that part of the country specifically to share Christ’s love. He talked about how gratifying it is to see fruits from your labor when those you share Christ’s love with in return show love, show appreciation, or at the very least show interest. But for them, they knew they might not ever see that type of “fruit”. And they were content to be right where God wanted them to be even if that meant planting seeds in concrete.
That illustration has stuck with me ever since I heard it. Planting seeds in concrete can certainly be what it feels like when our efforts go unrecognized and unappreciated by those who seem to be beyond our reach. But regardless of whether we see fruit, we are encouraged to continue to show love, to continue to care, and most importantly continue to pray. Although they may be beyond our reach, they are never outside of Christ’s loving reach.
My prayer is that we will always care too much and always love too much even and especially to those beyond our reach. Christ’s love never gives up.
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