Love always protects

 

Love always protects - Link to podcast

Love always protects and so when the lovely Sue finds out that you are having a go at me, she has a raft of strategies to protect me unless of course you have just cause, then she will join in the party and enjoy it as much as the next person. 

 

 

 

There are many ways we humans protect each other.   Some parents connect their toddlers to harnesses to stop them running on the road.  They arrange for them to be immunized and teach them to avoid dangerous things like spiders, fire and poo.  As adults we take out insurance, we have risk management systems in our work places and install things like hand rails and safety switches in our homes.

 

It seems to me there are a number of salvo administration workers who care about me and when they see a looming potential disaster such as a timely form that needs to be filled out or any number of complex financial transaction procedures that need to be adhered to, they often spring into action and protect me from harm.  I know this could be seen as just their job, but I am deeply grateful for these people as it feels a lot like love to me. 

 

One person in particular that springs to mind is Jenny Williams.  Jenny works in the finance department at Divisional Headquarters and has been a part of my officership for over a decade.  Jenny sees my heart and good intentions and will always try her best to avert the natural consequences of my absentmindedness and administrative dyslexia. 

 

Now Jenny is not the most demonstratively affectionate person you could ever meet, not many accountant types ever are really, but Jenny’s devotion to me over the years has broken down even this cold calculating heart and she now hugs me warmly whenever we meet.  Jenny is delightful. 

 

In today’s love theme from first Corinthians 13 we read that love always protects.

 

Nobody gets thrown under the bus in a loving relationship and protecting each goes to a whole new level.  We tend to deeply understand the people we love and are aware of each other’s weaknesses and can predict the scenarios that may result in harm.

 

The lovely Sue protects me in a way that is really quite unique.  She has been involved in Salvation Army leadership for many years and often people have had to discuss me and she tells me that sometimes I have a been a cause of some degree of frustration.   Go figure!  Her strategy has always been to roll her eyes and say things like…yeah he’s a bit of a dummy isn’t he.. and she would smile sweetly and people would feel sorry for her and decided not to deal with me as my sins deserved and cut me some slack.   So Sue protects me by being so lovely that nobody wants to hurt me for fear it might in some way hurt her.  Brilliant. 

 

Of course if the criticism is justified, she will not hesitate to allow the learnings I need to absorb to hit me between the eyes.  In this instance she takes on more of a nurse roll and helps clean up the blood. 

 

However this is one example, early in our Salvo leadership journey, someone really did attack me and accuse me of all sorts of incompetence and even called me an arrogant goose.  Well, I will never forget the ferocious slamming this guy got from the lovely Sue that day and I stood back in awe as she destroyed this poor fellow and she gave him the full force of her wrath.  I even felt sorry for the guy. 

 

So if you ever plan on having a go at me, just be warned if the lovely Sue finds out about it, she will at first charm you into a more compassionate response and if that doesn’t work, well just to protect you, I recommend you take out some fairly comprehensive insurance that includes multiple visits to a counselling service. 

 

 

Bless ya,