Some of you will know that I enjoy watching ‘Call the Midwife’, the series seen on television. This last week I confess that whilst watching it, I fell asleep. That’s most unusual for me as it is such a good programme, in my opinion, and always has some ‘golden nuggets’ for me to reflect on.
Although I missed this storyline, I made some notes from a previous week. In the closing words of the programme, it was said.
‘Everything we do, we do together. Whether we choose it or not, whether we know it or not. If we lack the power to change another’s life, we can still care. That counts as action. If we cannot stop the wound from bleeding, we can try to help it heal.
For that is love. And everyone knows that love is beautiful, strongest, when given to fragile things. Love is the chain that links us, the armour that shields us. Love is the arrow that pierces the heavens and sets us free’.

This week we celebrate Valentine’s Day, on the 14th of February. I wonder if you do anything special to show your love to someone. We can often say we love someone, but true love is seen by our actions.
In his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul writes about love and gives us an excellent definition. This passage is often read at weddings, and also at funerals. Here are some of the main verses.
‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. Three things remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love’ (1 Cor. Ch. 13 verses 4-8, and 13).
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In the Gospel according to John, there is a central theme of loving one another. Jesus commands his followers to love each other just as he has loved them, highlighting the selfless and sacrificial nature of true love. Jesus often speaks about how this love should be expressed in everyday actions and interactions with others.

I will admit, it is not always easy to love someone if they have hurt us. However, God is the ultimate source of love and our ability to love others stems from God’s love for us, and His love within us.

Corrie ten Boom is a wonderful example of such love. She was a Dutch watchmaker and later a Christian writer and public speaker. Corrie worked with her father and sister, and other family members to help many Jewish people escape from the Nazis during the Holocaust in World War II by hiding them in her home. In time they were betrayed, and as a result Corrie and her family were arrested by the Gestapo. She was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, where after severe persecution she survived. However, after being arrested, her father aged 84, only lived for 10 days in prison. Betsie, Corrie’s sister, died 10 months later. Corrie’s brother survived but when he came out he was a sick man and died after a year and his son died in prison.

Several years later, when speaking at a meeting in Holland, and sharing her life testimony, a woman from her hometown approached Corrie and told her who it was who had betrayed her and her family. Corrie admits, at that moment came hatred into her heart. But she knew that when you hate, you have no forgiveness yourself. Corrie brought it to the Lord, and she claimed God’s love. In Romans Ch.5 v 5 it says the love of God is shed abroad into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit who is given to us.
Corrie thanked Jesus for the love of God in her heart.
God’s love in Corrie was stronger than her hatred, and when she claimed His love, at that very moment the hatred had gone. It was a miracle. She later wrote to her betrayer and told him, with God’s love in her heart she had forgiven him. Her actions spoke of her love.
Corrie could not love her enemy in her own strength. It was God’s love within her.
Let’s remember God is Love and love never fails.
God bless
Eileen

EC. 10.2.25