A Devotional Reflection

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When Love Refuses to Wait

Some moments in life reveal what love really looks like.
Not the polite kind.
Not the scheduled kind.
Not the kind that waits for approval.

But the kind that moves.

The kind that hears pain in someone’s voice and is already grabbing the keys.
The kind that doesn’t ask, “Should I go?”
but instead says,
“I’m on my way.”

That’s the kind of love my aunt lived the morning of after my mom and I were in a wreck years ago.

She lived so far out in the swamp that folks joked sunshine had to be piped in.
She was the kind of woman who normally waited for her preacher’s permission before she did anything.

But not that day.

When she heard my voice — scared, hurting, trying to explain what was happening — something holy rose up inside her. She didn’t ask permission. She didn’t check with anyone. She didn’t wait for a green light.

She just said,
“Don’t worry. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

And she came.

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Love That Shows Up

An hour’s drive turned into twenty minutes.
Backroads turned into a straight path.
Fear turned into focus.

She walked into that hospital room like a woman sent on assignment.
She stayed by my side while they whisked my mom away to the University Medical Center.
She helped with my incision.
She came every day until I went home.

She didn’t preach a sermon — she became one.

“Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” — 1 John 3:18

Her love moved before permission.
Her love acted before approval.
Her love showed up before explanations.

That’s the kind of love Jesus talked about —
the kind that leaves the ninety‑nine to go after the one,
the kind that runs down the road to meet the prodigal,
the kind that crosses boundaries, breaks expectations, and arrives exactly where it’s needed.

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The Sermon She Lived

Maybe that’s why the one song she gave me — the one song I can’t find anywhere else — was about:

• being an example
• living the sermon
• people watching your life
• “You’re the only Bible some folks will ever read.”

Because she lived that message.
Not perfectly.
Not loudly.
But faithfully.

Her love didn’t wait for permission.
It simply moved her.

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Reflection Prayer

Lord, teach me to love with courage.
To move when You nudge me.
To show up when someone is hurting.
To live the sermon before I speak it.
And to be the kind of example that points others to You.
Amen.

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