Celebrate His Love

Back in the dark ages when I was a little girl, Saturday nights were busy.  Saturday night was not for going to a movie, getting together with friends, or sitting back and watching TV.  Oh no, the whole house was on high alert.  Sunday was coming and we needed to get ready.  That meant going down a check list and making sure that clothes were clean and ironed.   I know, who irons today!  It meant finding dress shoes and making sure they were polished.  I know, who knows what polish is today.  It meant that my hair was washed and then my mom would take strips of cloth and hold it against a pencil and roll small sections of my hair up tight to my head and then tie it off.  Sunday when the rags came out my hair it would hang in soft ringlets.  Saturday night was for making sure my mom was ready to teach her Sunday School class the next morning.  Saturday night was a night of preparation and anticipation – Sunday was coming.  So when I read a story about a little boy getting ready for Sunday, I could identify completely.

The story goes that his family was much like mine and Saturday night meant getting ready for Sunday morning.  His mother had asked him to polish her shoes.  He took his job very seriously and took his time to make sure that each shoe was clean and polished. When he was finished, he carefully took them back to his mother’s room so they would be ready for her in the morning.   His mother took note of the work he was putting into making sure her shoes would shine on Sunday.  Her heart was touched by his love and so she decided to reward him and called him to her side.  She looked down at him and praised him for his job well done and gave him a quarter.  His reaction was immediate.  He would not accept the quarter and as he shook his little head and handed the quarter back he said these words, “I did it for love.”

I think of that story almost every Easter as I prepare to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord.  I have spent time reflecting on the sacrifice, the pain and sorrow, the brutality endured by our Lord.  I have often wondered why He would willingly leave heaven and come to earth to suffer and die for me.  I think a little boy who polished his mother’s shoes understood the reason. 

He did it for love!