What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God. - Eleanor Powell
I was convicted by a story one of the speakers (Shane Claiborne) shared during Urbana ‘09. Working alongside Mother Teresa in Calcutta during a 10-week term, Shane noticed the uniqueness of Mother Teresa’s feet. As Shane walked into a prayer room where there was a obligatory removal of footwear for everyone entering, he noticed the extremity to which Mother Teresa’s feet were deformed. He kept from asking her about her feet, but one day one of the sisters asked him “have you seen Mother Teresa’s feet?” and he answered “yes.” The sister began to explain to him the story of Mother Teresa’s feet.
“Her feet are deformed because we get enough shoes for everyone to get a pair. Mother Teresa doesn’t want anyone to have a worse pair of shoes than she has. So she digs through all of the donations and she picks out the worst pair of shoes and she takes them for herself. After decades of wearing the worst pair of shoes, her feet have become deformed.”
Mother Teresa’s feet illustrate the story of her love and compassion. My heart broke in that moment imagining and trying desperately to see how one can have that much love for others before themselves and then I thought of the Gospel. THE WORD BECAME FLESH.
Our loving Father in the perfection and comfort of Heaven came down into the squalor of the earth to live among us sinners and to die for our sins. I don’t see how much more selfless one can be. Love does not reach from afar. It is incarnate, love demands death: death from the mirage of success society creates, death to self, and death to the selfish layers of protection one builds around themself.
For the five days at Urbana, all 17 000 participants studied the book of John. We studied what it means when “the word became flesh”. I haven’t been as moved, convicted, and challenged by the Gospel the way I have these past five days in a very long time. I hope I uphold the commitments I made during my time at Urbana. I know my church will support and be accountable for me (which is why I LOVE MY CHURCH- WOOT NEW HOPE FELLOWSHIP!), but I know the rest is up to me.
