I refer to her as "Crazy Lady" and today I was ashamed.
She comes to English class and unfailingly drives me nuts. She speaks through the whole thing to whoever is sitting next to her. She says random things all the time. She interrupts. Ugh!
And then on Sundays, she comes to church. She comes in, sits down, and covers her head with the bandanna she got from one of the Singing Men concerts. During greeting time, she says random English words to me. All I can think is "Crazy Lady, what do you want from me?!"
There have been several times lately that I have felt that not- so- gentle nudging in my heart to LOVE this woman. I've STRUGGLED to love this woman. Today, I learned a little bit about Crazy Lady. Her past is more horrific that you would want to know. She comes with lots of baggage. Bondage. But come, she does. And God accepts her lovingly into His arms. And that's why I was so ashamed today when I learned a little more about her. In my mind, I knew she had problems, but I had no idea why or what. Today, these things made it to my heart.
She and I are not so different. Her sins are not weighed heavier than mine. She was once separated from God and so was I. She has a need for love and I do too. Crazy Lady and I both have a Savior who loves us like CRAZY! He loves us and we don't deserve it. I don't deserve it. I am no better than Crazy Lady or anyone else.
He loves us the same? Yes. He loves us the same. And with that same unselfish, limitlessness love, I am called to love others, even those I put in the crazy category.
And you know what? After all the hell Crazy Lady has been through in her life, all she really wants to know is how to say "God Bless You" in English.
4 comments:
I've been learning some similar lessons lately. It's so important for us to learn to love the unlovable. To care about those who seem to not care at all. And to be patient with those who try, test, & obliterate our patience all the time. I pray that you'll be able to crazy love the crazy lady.
Ha! Isn't God funny sometimes. He using the most annoying people to teach us the biggest lessons! BTW we are going through Crazy Love right now with our high schoolers and they are responding wonderfully to it!
That's neat that Ruby sent you the Crazy Love book. Contnuous patience, prayer, and love will guide in these ways. Look in the Bible and find some more crazy people.
Jaclyn...this was a fantastic post. It warmed my heart and made me think. So good.
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