Simply Divine

I hope all of you girls have been enjoying your summer. I really have been enjoying mine! Just in the last week, I met a new friend from France that taught me to make crepes (yum!), met some new friends at swimming lessons, met a new neighbor, went to a baseball game, went to a birthday party and then had a wonderful weekend at church! Summer vacation is such a great time for celebrations and for hanging out with friends and family, and it still feels a bit like vacation even after you get out of school and you’re working just the same as you do all year long!

I want to encourage you to make the most of your summer doing one of the things that women do best – loving others through simple acts of kindness. Several of my friends and I took meals to a friend who had a new baby last week and it reminded me that even something as simple as a meal can be a means of showing the love of Jesus and his church in a big way. I remember how it felt to receive such a meal when I was a new mom in a new city, and it was no small thing to me, I guarantee you!

There are so many simple things we can do that glorify God by loving others – and they don’t require a small group or a planning meeting – just a heart sensitive to God’s promptings. So during this time, when Janes is taking a break from Bible studies and conferences, let’s look for opportunities to reflect God’s love in the simple things. Here are a few examples:

• Send a note, text or email to a friend who needs encouragement or to thank someone who is a blessing in your life.
• Include someone new in an outing with old friends.
• Take a meal or something sweet to a neighbor or friend or to the break room at work.
• Pick up an extra Starbucks for an associate on the way to work.
• Take advantage of opportunities to meet new people at work, church or school and go the extra mile to make them feel welcome.
• Have someone over to your home for a meal or just for coffee and get to know them better.
• Offer to babysit a friend’s children so they can have a night out to rest and be refreshed.

That’s enough to get you started! Colossians 3.12,14 says, “Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (emphasis mine).

Loving others is the most noticeable way we are identified with Jesus in this world. Don’t underestimate its importance to the Father or its impact upon others. In short, it is “simply divine!”

Blessings to you!

Daphne