Do All in Love

I remember my first job in Toronto, it was a volunteer job to gain Canadian experience and I was working in a Catholic Aid agency that distributed materials to underprivileged women in Asia. The supervisor, Sister Abby, was very nice and took me as her younger sister when she discovered I had no relatives in the city. She had genuine love for the women in the countries we sent materials to, and would often call the sister agencies over there to inquire personally about a particular woman's welfare.

She did all in love no matter the situation and I never once saw her lose her temper, even in situations I confess I would have lost mine. I really admired her long-suffering patience, but most of all the deep love you could see reflected in her countenance as she addressed different problems brought to her by the other Sisters in the agency.

Funny I had always believed this verse in I Corinthians 16:14, 'Let all you do be done in love', was hard to apply especially in situations where you were the wronged party but as I watched Sister Abby, I realized that she disciplined her staff with such deep love and a ready smile, it made me almost ashamed of my past reactions to similar situations as I watched her....she never once scolded her staff in public. Rather, she would take that person into her office, close the door, and her voice would even go lower in volume as she spoke to them.

I was brought up in a disciplined home and therefore believed that discipline was first and foremost the principal thing; but the Word says that wisdom is the principal thing. So now I've learned in situations with the children that may require my discipline, to ask Jesus to fill my heart with His love before I take any action; it helps tremendously as I then see the root need behind the action and address that first, before addressing the situation-which then is less important after the first step has been done.....it's a process worth trying.