Love Reaches Around the Wall

I didn’t intentionally eavesdrop. It just happened. I stood in line at the post office, eyes darting back and forth between two workers behind the counter. All three of us were playing a game, and I was the scorekeeper. The worker who could move the assembly line of people standing in front of me along the fastest would win.

Eventually, there was only one person left in line before me. Facing the line was contestant 1 in my imaginary game. A petite woman with her hair pulled back off her face, she stood behind a wall of plexiglass, wearing a red, white, and blue mask. Facing contestant 1 was a short woman standing beside her teenage daughter, who towered above her. The woman placed a box nearly half her size on the counter.

The score was 3-2, and contestant 1 was losing. She had the gift of gab, some might say, and her opponent was a man of few words. Speed didn’t seem to be her main priority. She must not have heard we were playing a game.  

The worker’s voice carried, and I was close enough to pick up her side of the conversation. “Oh, how nice of you to send a care package to your son. I’m sure he’ll love it!” I couldn’t hear the shorter woman’s response, but I caught myself wondering, college or military?

“How many children do you have?” contestant 1 went on to ask. There was something different about this lady. She was genuine, and her kindness captivated my attention. “So, three children. Two boys and a girl.” I didn’t hear the woman’s response, but her body language spoke volumes. This precious woman had suffered a terrible loss. Her son.

I forgot all about my game.

The worker stopped what she was doing and looked the woman straight in the eye. “I’m so, so sorry.” Quiet whispers were exchanged, and silent tears fell. “You hang in there. You’re going to be ok.”

I felt so much love standing in line at that dreary post office. How unexpected! I always thought the post office was reserved for impatient people who dreamed of being anywhere but there. People who made up silly games to pass the time until they could move on to their more “important” action items of the day. Boy, was I wrong!

What struck me most about the entire encounter was their final goodbye. The woman’s teenage daughter, who hadn’t uttered a word, slowly reached her hand out towards the postal worker. Ignoring the ceiling-to-counter wall of plexiglass looming in front of her, she stood, hand outstretched, around the side of that wall. The wall that was meant to keep them apart. The wall meant to separate. To protect.

I watched the world’s most compassionate postal worker lean over that counter, around the wall, and envelope that young girls’ hand in both of her own. What was meant to stand between them was no match for love.

It brought to mind God’s love for us and how nothing (nothing!) can stand between us and God’s love.

God’s love is unhindered by walls. Those unseen walls we build around our hearts to protect ourselves from hurt and pain? Yeah, I’ve put up a few of those. Maybe you have too. We think we’re doing ourselves a favor, but really, we’re just keeping ourselves from feeling God’s love. If you go to church often, you might hear someone say, “Tear those walls down,” or even, “Break those walls down.” Like it’s so easy. You and I both know it’s not.

Instead of attacking the whole wall at once, maybe we can start by reaching our hand out around the wall? It sounds so much more doable. When I’m afraid, hurt, or battered and bruised by life’s circumstances, I don’t feel like tackling a wall. Who has the strength for that? No. I want God to grab my hand with both of His. I want Him to envelope me in His love.

Friend, I want to remind you that nothing can stand between you and God’s love! He loves you with an “everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). Maybe you’ve built a few walls around your heart, trying desperately to protect yourself. Perhaps you’re wanting more of God’s love, but you feel you can’t have it because something or someone is standing in your way. The path to God is seemingly barricaded off.

This truth, my dear friend, is for you:

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:38-39 (NIV)

I still tear up when I think about what transpired at the post office. I haven’t eavesdropped on any conversations since then, but I’ve stood in many similar lines. I still play my game with unsuspecting strangers, but I adjusted the rules of the game.

It’s not the person who serves an assembly line of people the fastest who wins. No, winners serve others with love. No matter who, when, or where. Regardless of what stands in their way. Winners know how to love and they point others towards the God of love in the process. Now that is a game worth playing!