A Memorial Message
I just want to take a moment, to let you all know how much I am proud of all of you. Just to sit here and listen to how sweet and kind the words were for the woman you are remembering today, and how much she had impacted your life. I’m proud of you. If she were here, at this very moment. I didn’t know her, and I never met her. But I can also guarantee you, just by seeing all the love and appreciation from you all today, she would probably be super proud of each and every one of you.
People always say you can’t really explain why you feel a certain way about someone. Why you click with some people more than others or why you suddenly feel connected to a stranger. Have you ever taken a moment to think about that? That, the girls and the staff who are in this season of your life, might be God putting people in your life because at some point you’re going to need whatever it is that, that person is teaching you.
You see, I believe God puts people in our lives, and brings us closer to certain people because these are the people we need in our lives right now. It reminds me of Jesus and the woman at the well. Which is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. Tucked into the beginning of John’s gospel in the new testament. Jesus gets wind from his Father that he needs to go through Samaria.
And it’s kind of funny because normally, the Jewish people don’t go through Samaria, they go around Samaria. These two groups of people hated each other. The Jews hated Samaritans so much that the Jewish people would consider them dogs. But while Jesus was there at the well, he meets with a Samaritan woman coming to draw water in the heat of the day. And do you know who this woman was?
She was an outcast. She’s different. All the other women would get up early, and together they would go down to the well to draw water for the day, but this particular woman that is now in front of Jesus, she lived a promiscuous life. She lived a life different and she didn’t feel worthy to be there with the other woman. She came to the well when she knew no one would be there to accuse her, to talk about her, to laugh at her.
She came at noon, in the heat of the day, to isolate herself from the shame. But guess who was waiting for her? Jesus was. Now remember, God puts people in our lives, and brings us closer to certain people because these are the people we need in our lives right now. Jesus begins to pour life into her. He engages with her about living water, water that only He has, and only he can give.
So she’s surprised, not only to see someone there, but because that ‘someone’ would engage with her, Someone who, connects with her, breaks through her isolation. Someone that sees through her shame, and through all the walls she had put up because of past hurts to protect herself. And what’s beautiful about this moment… This woman has her eyes opened and realizes that Jesus wasn’t there to engage her shame, he was there to engage her heart.
Jesus sees her. She’s not invisible to him. He loves her. In the world of Jesus, she is NOT excluded; not isolated, She’s not a dog. And in that inclusion, she is brought back to life. All because the father, sent Jesus through Samaria and not around, SO that Jesus could be a part of her life. God sends people into our life for a reason. For a purpose. We all have well moments in our life where we meet people.
This is a well moment in our life. Now, comes the hard part. When we come to the well, and we meet those God sent to meet us there, are they in our life temporary, or permanent. You know, the woman at the well, when she realized that Jesus was the messiah, she turned around and ran back into town, back into the society that she first ran from because of her shame.
But this time, instead of being clothed in shame, she let her heart swell with life as she shared life with others. You see, at some point in this season you are in. You’re not going to be here anymore. That’s not the question I have, but the question I have is this… when you do leave here, will you leave here better than who you were than when you came?
I believe so… because you all met her! And she taught you some special things about living life, and caring for others, and loving on everyone. You see, if I go back to the truth that, God puts people in our lives, and brings us closer to certain people because these are the people we need in our lives right now. I would say, she was a part of your life to teach you some amazing truths about life.
When you leave here, you’re gonna be able to love people where they are. Just like Jesus loved the woman at the well where she was, and just like how she loved you where you were, right here. And the truth is, Jesus only stayed two days in Samaria. He had to leave. Jesus was a temporary person in their life for that moment. I can imagine the Samaritan woman and the town didn’t want Jesus to leave, but he had to.
If Jesus didn’t leave, there wouldn’t be the healing of the sick, the washing of the disciples feet, or the cross. We can become frustrated when temporary people leave because we can’t let go, sometimes we don’t want to let go. We don’t understand why God would take away something so beautiful or someone who’s healed us in some way. But those we meet in the present, help us and prepares us for whenever God sends us forever people into our life.
In essence, learning to let go is faith. That’s what letting go means. You ever heard the phrase about relationships… if you let them go and they return it was meant to be? It takes faith to let go of people in our life trusting that God knows what’s best for us. And here’s the cool part about Jesus. The bibles tells us that if we put our faith in Him, he will never leave us.
He promises us that, by faith, His presence would be in us, so that he becomes a permanent person in our lives. I didn’t know her. But if she was anything like what I am seeing in your life right now…. Kindness. Gratefulness. Love, appreciation.… Sounds to me she was a great person to be around, and who she was is now permanently instilled in you. What I am trying to say is this..
You’re young. Live in this moment. Live with these people around you. Celebrate with one another, laugh with each other. Tell jokes about how big the spiders are in the dorms. Let these moments draw you closer together. Learn from each other’s stories. So that when the wind of change comes, by faith you’ll be able to let go. Take this moment and this season in your life to see the uniqueness in each person the way she saw it in them.
Take advantage of it now, because you never know when the wind of change will come. Maybe these girls, and this staff around you are temporary people that God has brought into your life to teach you a lesson or to heal you in some way. Maybe these young ladies and staff are also teaching you how to let go, how to detach from things that hurt us. So that we can embrace the things that will help us, heal us, and strengthen us for the life ahead.
Maybe, this moment is teaching us….. How to have faith. How to realize when someone’s a part of your story, and by faith you’re able to love those permanent people who God will bring into your life, even better than before, because of what you’ve shared with the temporary people you’ve met at this moment, right now. She isn’t gone. Her life is carried on by your memory, and by you being the best of who she was in this life.
To me, that’s being just like Jesus. Loving, caring, kind, gentle, and joyful. Be light… and go shine.