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June 30, 2005
A Cup of Water in the Night
Sometimes I wake up in the morning with a definitive desire to reread a particular old book. Usually it's just a chapter or a certain section, whatever piece allows me to relive that moment when, during the initial reading, I realized that this was a good book. Today, it was Sheldon Vanauken's A Severe Mercy:
And there was the principle of courtesy: whatever one of us asked the other to do -- it was assumed the asker would weigh all consequences -- the other would do. Thus one might wake the other in the night and ask for a cup of water; and the other would peacefully (and sleepily) fetch it. We, in fact, defined courtesy as 'a cup of water in the night.' And we considered it a very great courtesy to ask for the cup as well as to fetch it.
When Vanauken and his wife conceived this graceful idea they were still unbelievers. Only later did they learn that, when breathed through by the Spirit, to render such unquestioning acts of service is to minister to Jesus Himself. "I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was stranger and you welcomed Me." -- Matthew 25:35
(And you can bet this is going in to the slew of wedding cards I need to write in the next couple of weeks...)
Faith | By elissa | 10:29 AM
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