Hope Spot 27 – Where love shines brightest

Colleen sits in front of me at church.

She’s 87.

Two years ago, she lost her husband.

On Sunday, she told me she’d been to the doctor. He asked how she was.

Colleen told him she wanted to be six feet under. She was in so much pain, she wanted God to take her home.

Then she handed me an envelope. Patted my hand. Smiled.

Said it was cash she’d saved up. “For the people who need help.”

This week we say farewell to another lady from church, Ivy.

About the same age as Colleen, Ivy lost her life to pancreatic cancer – a hard, horrible disease.

Yet, in her last days, Ivy told Pastor that at her funeral she wanted everyone wanted to wear bright colours – a celebration of life, not a sorrow in death.

People like Ivy and Colleen
remind me that often
love shines brightest
when life feels darkest.

The places where you work through ALWS are difficult and dangerous. The people you help face death and disaster.

Yet, you should see (and hear!) the joy your kindness brings, to people like these ladies I met in Burundi …

These days, it can seem our world is so broken that days feel as dark as night.

That’s why the love you express
in your kindness is so precious.

Whether you help a child in Myanmar go to school … a farmer in Ethiopia to grow high-yielding maize … a mum in Burundi to start a business …

… through ALWS, you shine light into the darkness.

The poet-singer, Leonard Cohen, put it this way:

There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.

The prophet, Isaiah (9:2), says it another way:

The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.

The person Isaiah is talking about, Jesus, invites us to be the way:

“You are the light of the world …
… let your light shine before others”

Today, I thank you for letting your light shine to all those you help through ALWS.

You shine as bright as the shirt
I plan to wear to Ivy’s farewell!

What’s wonderful is that your light also shines on people around you – friends, family, neighbours – as they see what you do for others.

In you, they see the power of love.

While the world today seems ever more cracked and broken, dark and scared …

… this is where your love can shine brightest.

It’s why you are a blessing. ALWayS!

PS: You can see more of the light you shine into people’s lives in your ALWS 2023 Annual Report!

PPS: Last Friday, we snail-mailed FY 23/24 ALWS Annual Donation Statements, to make it easy to claim any tax benefit you may be due. Email versions will follow. If you have any questions, or need a summary of your ALWS donations straightaway, simply call us on 1300 763 407 or reply to this email! Thank you!