LOVE'S FILTER

 

It was the very first time the little town of Bisbee, Arizona would be having one of the largest gospel music concerts of all time. A vast majority of the inhabitants were Christians who numbered over ten thousand with their various families, lifestyles, and churches. But everyone in the town still had a relationship of some sort as one big family.

Lucas was so excited that his favorite gospel band, Hillsong, would be coming to the concert. The thought of it alone thrilled him so much that it made him place reminders all over his home.

As the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Lucas was in his late thirties and was a successful banker. Yet, he chose to stay close to his parents who were over seventy. Beth and Sam had Lucas in their mid-forties. He was a miracle baby.

"Lucas, what are doing?" His mum asked in surprise as she saw him trying to place what looked like a banner-like sticker on the kitchen door.

"Well Momma" Lucas said as he tried to quickly finish what he was doing and then turned to face his mum.

"I'm just making sure you both help me not to forget the concert Hillsong will be coming for. You know what that means to me mum."

"Yes, darling."  Mrs. Smith said with a little grin. "And we will make sure you don't miss it." 

"Okay, bye mum. See you later." Lucas said and dashed out of the kitchen. He got into his car and zoomed off to work. 

Mrs. Smith admired her son's dedication to the things that mattered to him such as his work, his parents, his commitment to the church in the neighborhood, and his hockey team. But she needed him to give her and Sam grandchildren.

Lucas had had some failed relationships in the past and had given up on love. He had done everything in his power to get a virtuous lady but something always went wrong and before he knew it, the relationship would crumble. His mum at this point, however, was determined to see that his next relationship led him to the aisle.

"I guess that was Lucas leaving for work," Sam said walking into the kitchen with his cup of coffee in his hand.

"Yes," Beth replied, "and guess what?" Beth said as Sam turned to look at his wife curiously. "He has no idea of what we have already planned."

Sam smiled sheepishly as he took a sip of his coffee knowing exactly what Beth was talking about. 

"He is so looking forward to the Hillsong concert and so are we," Beth said and they both laughed.

The stage was all set at the venue that day in Arizona for the Hillsong Worship Awake Tour. The event was to kick off from the early hours of the evening and people were already strolling in by their numbers in the morning.

A lot of single young men and women outnumbered the children and older people and it was such a great place to execute the plan Sam and Beth had devised. Lucas drove into the parking lot with so much exuberance as the much-awaited day was here. 

"Okay, mum and dad, this is where I leave you both," Lucas said as he alighted the driver's seat to help open the doors for his parents. "I'll see you both at the end of the show," he said as he handed over the car key to his mum, giving her a peck also and took off.

Both Sam and Beth were glad he wouldn't have to be around while they tried to find a wife for him. They both had prayed and asked God for a favor to seamlessly execute their plan.

As they walked hand in hand into the main entrance which took about 10 minutes from the parking lot, they were exhausted and needed to get a seat for their aching legs.  They noticed four beautiful single ladies all chattering away and eating what looked like candy. 

"Hello ladies," Beth said waving her little wrinkled hand. "Do you girls mind if we join you?" 

"Hey ma'am, you can see there are no seats around, why don't you both go someplace else?" One of the girls said.

"Oh come on", another of the girls replied sharply to her friend. "You shouldn't talk that way to the elderly." 

"What do they expect us to do? Stand up for them?" The First Lady said as she angrily moved about in her seat, hating the idea of having to leave.

"Sure ma'am," said the other lady, raising her voice and interrupting her friend. "You both can have our seats while we look someplace else," Trisha said nudging her three reluctant friends to stand up and move.

"Oh, thank you," Sam told Trisha as they sat comfortably on the seat. Beth quickly beckoned on Trisha to come closer as if to ask her a question.

"Oh for Christ's sake," said the third lady under her breath to the others. "What else do they want?" 

"Yes ma'am," said Trisha as she tried to suppress her friend's reaction to the couple.

"Could you kindly help us get our water bottles from our car?" said Beth stretching to give Trisha the car keys. "We are so thirsty at the moment and exhausted to go back and fetch them. We forget them in the car."

"Ma'am, there's a cooling van just over there", the fourth lady said as she directed their gaze to a minivan which had all sorts of drinks just a stone throw away.

"That's okay ma'am. I'll go help you get it," Trisha said as she collected the keys.

"Oh thank you, darling, it's parked just beside a white Van to the left of the park in the third row with the vehicle plate number BJV 7822." Beth finished with a wide grin on her face.

Trisha smiled and turning towards the parking lot, she said to her friends, "I'll be back soon girls."

Before you wonder how this story ended, I'd like to cast your minds back to a similar story in the book of Genesis where Isaac got a wife through the help of his father's eldest servant mainly by the character of kindness he saw in Rebecca. By demonstrating the virtue of undeserved kindness, she won the heart of Eleazer.

Just as the filters on Snapchat make whoever look into it appear like a beautiful model or a handsome macho, so also, the attribute of kindness makes us attractive. It makes us stand out as beautiful and gracious.

I like to call kindness love's filter. Until you learn to show kindness, you are yet to learn how to truly love. Kindness is what makes a man attractive no matter what his physical looks maybe.

The Psalmist said, "Kindness makes a man attractive and it's better to be poor than to be dishonest."

Kindness is goodness in action and the sweetness of dealing with others in words, gestures, and activities. Kindness is loving at the expense of self-love.

Trisha would have decided to turn down the request of Sam and Beth to take 20 minutes to walk to and fro the park to get their water cans if she was so absorbed with self-love. But she had a better understanding that loving others meant putting their interest before hers.

It was someone who wrote this about the virtuous woman, "Her mouth, she opens with wisdom, and, the instruction of kindness, is on her tongue."

Sharon Salzberg once said and I quote, "Loving-kindness and compassion are the basis for wise, powerful and sometimes gentle fierce actions that can really make a difference in our lives and those of others."

If you would like to see such positive changes happen in your life, now is the time. Choose to always respond to others with kindness. Just like how people make Snapchat filters a serious makeup goal, choose to make love's filter, kindness, your serious life goal.

YOUR LOVE COACH,

THELOVEJUNKIE.