Can’t See It…

James 2:18

‘But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.’ 

I once (well, more than once) gave a children’s talk where I set up a hairdryer pointing straight upwards. A ‘volunteer’ child was then asked to drop a ping-pong ball onto the hairdryer. Not surprisingly the ball fell and rolled away – until the hairdryer was turned on full. Then the ball hovered, a foot up and bobbing about in the stream of air. The air was invisible, but its effect was clear to see. We went on to talk about how the invisible wind sways, and sometimes uproots, great trees, and we did a few more air-experiments (everyone loves it when you blow up a balloon and then just let it go!) We made the point - you can’t see air, but you can see what it does!

You can’t see love either. You can’t weigh it, take its temperature, compress it into a bottle like you can with air. But you can see what it does! ‘You can’t see love, but you can see what it does’ became a bit of a catch-phrase - and one member of our church who later became a vicar used it so often that when he left his church to become an archdeacon, the parishioners presented him with a framed embroidery of it!

The ‘Love Your Neighbour’ initiative is a living embodiment of that phrase. Love made visible, love in action. It’s a multi-faceted, highly organised expression of the love of God, reaching out into the community. You might be a part of it. But whether you are or not, every day can provide opportunities for making love visible through your actions large or small. Can you discover or invent an act of random kindness to do today – and do it – so someone will see the love of God – made visible?

Prayer – Lord, show me how I can make your love visible today.