Dessert and Hesed
Hesed: People deserving nothing from the Creator, being gifted with everything.
I remember when in my 30s, I attended a rural church ladies’ mission group made up of women in their 60s, 70s, and 80s.
While some aspects of the meeting time bored my much younger self, I did enjoy the conversations over dessert and coffee. It was my chance to learn from their lives. I remember one meeting in which I asked the ladies to share their favorite scripture and why they loved it.
Everyone readily shared, but I was surprised by the consistent reaction while explaining: tears. They cried as talked about God’s answers and promises near to their hearts.
I asked myself, why the tears? The scriptures shared touched the core of each one’s being. The scriptures spoke comfort, encouragement, and hope when in hard moments of life. The women cried because God spoke to them lovingly at times when they most needed it.
Tears of joy and relief came from understanding God’s hesed wrapped about them.
God calls us to share his hesed with each other and the world moving about us. Can we overlook the temporal to focus on the eternal?
Follower of Jesus, writer, teacher, needing more hesed in her life.