Miss Melinda :)

Disclaimer: I realize this is the 3rd time this week that I've written... It might be excessive but at least I'm doing something! (And avoiding other things...)

There is an awesome lady who came to my mind this morning… She is my mom’s best friend and I know her as Miss Melinda. She is one of the most caring, loving, and fun people I know and has a personality the size of Alaska! (Haha that is a bad description.. point is her personality is huge and infectious!)

Anyway, when she visited this past summer, I got a chance to really hang out and talk with her. Before then, she was just known to me as my mom’s best friend and a nice lady who would visit us and who we would visit occasionally. It wasn’t until this trip though that I got to see the great heart she has for people. Not only does she have a giving heart, but she has such an encouraging heart as well. I see this through her stories of the kids she works with (she teaches high school English). She has such a great heart for teaching and encouraging students; they seem to really love her and I can see the love she has for them and the desire she has for them to succeed. I remember one story of a previous student she had who is currently in prison. She told me that she still corresponds with him and that he is an encouragement to others in prison. To know that she can encourage someone who then encourages others, it just shows how much of a difference she makes in peoples’ lives. She is also such a giving person, not only of her money but her time. During the week she was with us, she had a number of projects in the works; most were buying old pieces of furniture from goodwill and refurbishing them. She took her vacation time to help me and my family on these projects… Not only that, but Miss Melinda cared for my mom after she had surgery. Ultimately, if you knew Miss Melinda or even just had one conversation with her, you could see her joyous and loving heart shine through, and this joy is in fact infectious. Just thinking about her puts a smile on my heart. (Ok I realize this doesn’t fully explain what I’m trying to say… basically she’s awesome!)

One thing that stuck with me is this quote from her “Don’t love others in the way that you want to love them, love them in the way they need to be loved”. When she said this (in her cute Southern accent no less), it was like a “duh” moment. So many times we show love when WE want to show it and how WE want to show it, but what we should be doing is loving when OTHERS need it and in the way OTHERS need it. After all, that’s what love is about isn’t it? It is, or should be, something outside of ourselves, it’s our recognition that we need to think of someone other than ourselves for once. True love is unselfish, it even says it in the Bible (1 Cor. 13:5, “it is not self-seeking”). So when we love people, we need to take into consideration their needs instead of our own. This is so hard for me cuz so often I am stuck in my own little world (I call it “Lisa Land”) and am unable to see the big picture and the true need for love. Hopefully I can take this into consideration constantly when dealing with friends or even strangers.

To Miss Melinda, thank you so much for being you! The love you have for God and people seriously shows through, so I pray that God will continue to work in your life and that you may know what an inspiration you are to people. If I can turn out to be half the person you are, I know I will live a fulfilling life. So once again, thank you and I love you and hope that all is well in South Carolina!