The other day I prepared for love.
In the afternoon, I was going to be picking up a young man (who we will call Sam) that was going to live with us for the next year. I made sure there was food in the fridge. I straightened furniture and washed sheets. I wanted everything to be perfect. I wanted Sam to see he was coming into a home of order, not of chaos and a place where love prepared for him.
At the last minute, I ran upstairs and wrote Welcome Sam! on the whiteboard outside of his room. I even jotted it on the whiteboard in the main room. Overkill? Maybe.
Later that afternoon, I picked him up. He moved in and when he was done, I invited him to ride with me to go pick up my husband. He looked at me as I was grabbing my purse and said, “I saw you wrote Welcome Sam! on the whiteboards.”
“Yeah.” And I smiled.
“Why would you do that?” He smiled slightly, but confusion sat in that smile.
“Well, because we are happy to have you here!” I looked right at him and grinned.
“Ok, but why?” Confusion stubbornly wouldn’t leave that innocent face.
Unlike most of us who expect to be seen, expect to be noticed when we go somewhere new, this young man didn’t expect anyone to see him. When I welcomed him and prepared a place for him, he didn’t understand. I even had left some items as a gift on his bed and he didn’t assume they were for him. I had to tell him that they were his.
How heartbreaking, and yet, aren’t we often the same? We understand and have heard so many times how in Jesus’ Dad’s house there are many rooms and that Jesus has gone to prepare a place for you and for me. On top of that Jesus said he’d come get us and take us to our room himself because he lives there too and wants us to be with him. Plus, his Dad actually adopted us so we get to go to the family home forever. Pretty cool, right?
Just like I excitedly prepared a room for Sam, so the love of Jesus has prepared a place for you.
Have you ever stopped to wonder what your room will be like? How has Jesus prepared it just for you? What color is it? What special items has he left on your bed? What little touches has he made in there to tell you that he loves you?
Your challenge for the week: How can you prepare a place for love this week? Maybe you can add something special to the dinner table. Maybe you can be there with a hug and eye contact when a loved one or a friend enters your home. I’d love to hear your ideas.
Dreaming of a room with mountain and ocean views and maybe even a little love note.
It’s funny, I’ve known the verses about Jesus going back to heaven to prepare a place for us but rarely do I stop and think about what He may actually be doing! He is physically getting ready for us to go to heaven! That is super exciting, thank you for the beautiful reminder 🙂
I’m still living at home with my parents and since I’m not currently working, having the house clean and dinner cooking by the time my parents get home means a whole lot to them. It can be hard to break away from what I’m working on and I don’t always get it right but I’ve come to realize it really is an act of love and should be important to me!
Blessings 🙂
That is so great Elyssa! I love that you make dinner for your parents and clean up. I think those are great acts of service to show love! Great ideas and thank you for sharing them! And I don’t think God asks us to be perfect I think he just wants us to show love and be intentional with it, so you’re doing a great job, keep it up! Thank you for reading my blog and I look forward to interacting with you more, bless you.