Reflections

Be kind and compassionate to one another . . . Ephesians 4:32, NIV

When June and I lived on Maui, I met a widow whose husband was a Christian pastor for many years. Reflecting upon her recently deceased husband the widow said, “My husband did not set the world afire.” She then smiled and said with obvious pride, “But, he did his part to warm it up a little.”

The husband in his ministry did not lead any mass crusades. He was not known as an outstanding church administrator. No one wrote books about his ministry. He was just a faithful pastor fulfilling his pastoral duties with kindness and compassion. He baptized/dedicated children. He married young couples. He buried the deceased.

As a Christian pastor he fulfilled throughout his life the three major functions of Christian ministry: hatch, match, and dispatch.

The pastor simply loved people in the ordinary daily affairs of life.

In short, the widow’s husband did not set the world on fire, but he did his part to warm it up a little. It seems to me that is the kind of global warming we need in our world today, a global warming of kindness and compassion.

Major Scott Nicloy, Salvation Army