The Beauty in Self-giving Love

I once heard from a guy talking about an internship he had in India where he served alongside Mother Teresa. He said that one day in worship he found himself staring at Mother Teresa’s feet. They were just gnarly – deformed. After the service, a local man came up to him and said, “I see you staring at the Mother’s feet. Do you know why they are like that? They are like that because whenever a box of shoes is donated and shipped over from the States, the Mother goes through the box and picks out the worst pair she can find. She takes those for herself.

It is clear that Mother Teresa had a servant’s heart. She gave sacrificially, beyond what most of us could imagine doing ourselves.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus… who… by taking the very nature of a servant… he humbled himself…” Jesus himself said, “Whatever you have done to the least of these who are my brothers and sisters, you have done it to me.”

We can’t all be Mother Teresa, but we can learn something from her example. There is great beauty in self-giving love.

Our prayer today was written by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Dag Hammarskjold. Let us pray: Great and good God, give us pure hearts that we may see you, humble hearts that we may hear you, hearts of love that we may serve you, hearts of faith that we may live in you, reverent hearts that we may worship you, here and in the world out there, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.