A Loving Sign (08/21/2024)

Last evening, at the end of a meeting, our group cleaned up our space, and together we walked to the parking lot. As we neared our vehicles, a member of the group turned to me and said, “I am going to give you the sign I give to my loved ones before I say goodbye.” And she lifted her hand and sketched a cross on my forehead before giving me a hug. That loving sign hours later was still on my mind when I went to bed.  

This morning, I am still thinking about it. It was powerful. I physically felt the sign of the cross, the sign of our Savior’s love, and I mentally imagined the LORD’s gift of His life for mine, and emotionally I experienced an expanding of heart. It reminded me that our efforts to love Christ by loving one another need not be grand in scale but must be authentic.

Christianity is a walk that requires authenticity, genuineness, sincerity.   Christ calls us to follow in His footsteps, to encounter others with the same loving desire for the best of the other as Christ displayed among the people to whom He taught, healed, and ministered. The loving yet simple gesture of the woman reminded me that Christ is with us and touches us through others. And we are called to touch one another with Christ’s love.

And my mind was filled with memories of others not just knowing the gospels but knowing Christ and allowing their love for Christ and Christ’s love for us all to flow through them in simple ways such as volunteering at the local food pantry or St. Vincent de Paul store, taking communion to the homebound, teaching the youth about the faith and sharing their own journey with others. There are a myriad of ways to live Christ in our world, but all call for authenticity.

I pray for us all this day as we pick up our lives and continue our journeys in Christ, led by the Spirit. I pray to the Father to give us “our daily bread.” I pray that we will stay the course and support one another along the way. And I pray that our lives, through their authenticity, will be a loving sign to others.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.