Grace Klein Community posted a need for someone to help receive the donated bread on Tuesdays. Out of 1900 Facebook friends, we only needed one. One person, willing to give one hour, to mark out the dates and prices on the donated bakery items and neatly store those items into the freezers.
Maybe you also read the need, thinking someone else will do it, and kept moving. Maybe the struggle is overloaded, packed schedules or fear of commitment? Whatever our excuse, many of us intellectually know what the Bible says, but fail to take action.
We forget … love is a decision.
Maria Luttrell found herself reading her devotional, the morning after she scrolled past that Facebook post. The scripture reading was Deuteronomy 10:12-21,
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the Lordyour God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen.”
As she spent time with Jesus, through the study of this specific scripture, God reminded her that we are commanded to love God. Not optional. The lesson shared how one way to love God is to serve and love others. Our loving Father prompted Maria’s heart with one simple introspective question: “My schedule is available so why am I not available?”
Then she read John 14:21, “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
She immediately committed to Tuesday’s realizing that not only was her schedule available, but her heart was available too.
Something about Maria is contagious. She’s spunky, outgoing, generous, creative and organized. She is joyful, adventurous and fun. She is living an abundant life with Jesus and when she interacts with others, she is the aroma of Christ.
As Grace Klein Community grows, we require more and more diversity. Without diversity, we will all think the same, become frustrated by the same things, and often share the same flaws. In a healthy community, our weaknesses are other’s strengths and our strengths are other’s weaknesses. We make each other better and we need one another.
Maria Luttrell receives the bread on Tuesdays and helps haul food boxes to Asbury UMC every Friday before food delivery. She makes little snap bags for our BeMoreRandom Etsy shop and finds dentists to donate toothbrushes and toothpaste. Maria will stop by the office to bring hangers for a special project and end up leaving with dirt all under her nails because she helped with the compost bin. She has served in Guatemala with Grace Klein Community and created a little character named Penelope to raise awareness about Grace Klein Community.
Something random that Maria loves to do is notice hearts wherever she goes. She’s not obsessed with hearts, rather Jesus is showing Himself to her and she is noticing. She is refining her obedience to God’s command to love God and love others. Hearts remind us to love. She’s also super sneaky with a surprise up her sleeve. She wraps random gifts and delivers them around town, drops desserts by the fire station, and may surprise you with some French fries. When a freezer accidentally defrosted, she cooked and delivered meals to others in the community. Maybe that’s just it, she thrives in the organized random of God-sized interruptions and we are all the better for it.