As I sat drinking my coffee, I noticed an elderly couple walking down the street.

She shuffled along with her head bowed. I assumed dementia had robbed her of the ability to engage with her beautiful surroundings. He led her distractedly, looking tired, care-worn.

I imagined myself in his place. Silence, then this thought came.

 

“What is the point of all this effort and struggle as we teeter together towards death? What is the point?”

Silence.

I reflected on my life. “My career is now over, the children have flown and my purpose has evaporated… What’s the point?”

Then, as I stared into the void, it came to me, like a thunderbolt. I realised what I was witnessing.

‘Love… Love is the point!’

And the words of all those Trinity Sunday sermons came rolling back to me.

God is love. God is relationship: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Out of this eternal dance of love all things have been created. In this eternal dance of love all things are held and hang together.

So how does life look if, in any given situation, instead of asking the question ‘what is the easiest thing to do?’ or ‘what is the most profitable thing to do?’ or even ‘what is going to be best for me?’, instead of any of those questions, our first response is ‘What is the most loving thing to do?’ And what if we then acted on the answer, whatever the cost?

How would life look then?

Written by Reverend Simon Howard Associate Priest, Two Valleys Mission Community.

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