The week before Thanksgiving, I found out that I needed back surgery. A bulging disc in my lower back had been causing sciatic nerve pain for about a year. Within a few days, I was in and out of surgery. It was a tremendous blessing, but the Lord’s blessing did not stop there. The day before my surgery, our house sold. We were now scheduled to move within the month. God’s timing is always surprising. There are few things that can tame my tongue and humble my spirit on most days. However, being the recipient of a completely generous and selfless act did have some success. In my recovery from surgery, the doctor said to lift nothing heavier than a coffee cup. Well, as you sip your coffee right now, you know that everything is heavier than a coffee cup. So, to say that my activity was limited is a major understatement. The problem was that while my body needed to heal, I needed to pack. That was not an option for me.
The second week of my recovery, my mother-in-law took over duty as guardian of the weak. Not being one to just hang out, she requested boxes so she could begin packing for us. Let me tell you: I’ve never seen anything quite like it. She destroyed my idea of “worker bee.” She worked 12-15 hours for five straight days and single-handedly packed 90% of our home. She packed the kids' rooms, the bathrooms, and broke down beds. She even packed the attic. She not only packed the attic, but also moved every box down two flights of stairs. It was amazing.
All I did was sit and watch. That’s all I could do. The understanding of chronic pain and the possibility of undoing the gift of a surgeon’s handiwork glued me to my bed and sofa. But God’s grace shut my mouth and sprang forth a fountain of gratitude in my heart. I was completely humbled by the unselfish gift of my mother-in-law. I can’t imagine being willing to pack someone else’s home for them. It is an enormous, exhausting, and at times disgusting job (someone else’s dirt and clutter is always worse than your own). But, she did it. She gave of herself most generously. All I could do was sit and say “thank you.”
Oh, what a lovely picture of Christ! I am grateful to be a Christian - saved from my sin. But how often am I really humbled by Christ’s great and selfless act? How often am I struck by my own inadequacy to save myself from the depth of the wickedness inside of me? Far less often than I care to admit even to myself. My self-sufficiency creeps in daily as I go about my business of doing and working and accomplishing. I forget what he has done. I forget what I’ve been saved from and who I’ve been saved for. I forget until moments of his grace humble me and gently remind me that salvation is a gift of faith, not of works.
I am so grateful to my mother-in-law who gave such a priceless gift of unselfishness to me. I hope that I will never forget it. But even more than that, I am so thankful that for a moment I had a more clear understanding of my inadequacy and the great, selfless gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. Oh how I look forward to a glorified state when I will spend all my days in humble praise before his throne! Until then, I will remember this time of lifting nothing heavier than a coffee cup.
