One day I was shopping for a birthday card for a divorced friend of mine who had 10 children. I was standing in front of the birthday card section labeled Friends. As I was looking at various cards I noticed a little man in his 60’s or 70’s standing in front of the birthday card section labeled Wife. I started watching him because he was doing something most interesting. He would take a card out of the rack and the first thing he would do was turn it over and check out the price. Every so often he would pull out a card, check the price and snicker. I could almost hear him thinking, “Prove to me this card is worth $5.99.”
The more I watched him the angrier I got. He was buying a card for a wife he had probably been married to for over 40 years. Here I was buying a card for a divorced woman raising 10 kids all by herself. I wanted to go over and say, “Buddy, you ought to be happy you’ve got a wife all these years. What’s an extra dollar or two?” But I didn’t. I bought my card and drove home.
When I parked my car something hit me like a ton of bricks. I was no different than that man. What is the first thing that comes into my mind when someone asks me to do something? “What is it going to cost me….in time, energy, worry or frustration?” I am no different than that little man.
Once I recognized this years ago, I immediately caught myself when someone asks me to do something. I keep repeating this to myself: “The Love that Counts is the Love that Costs”
This is what I hear Jesus saying to me as he hangs upon the cross.
“The Love that Counts is the Love that Costs.”
