 We almost never buy pain au chocolat. Don’t get me wrong, it is delicious, and we love it, but it is not an everyday food like a baguette. Recently, a new boulangerie opened near us, they had some good opening specials and I was thrilled when Olivia returned from the shops with 10 pain au chocalat! I immediately began to prepare the coffee, my mouth watering with the excessive feast in mind. Then came the words that I dread to hear…"these are not all for us." Six words to burst my bubble. “Are some at least for us?” I held on to hope. “Yes, but the rest are for a mother at the school.” Mixed feelings. Why do we need to share our pastries? “Isn’t that a little random? It seems weird just handing a woman we barely know a brown bag of pain au chocolat at the school gate?” “Yes, but I feel like it’s what I must do.” So, off she went with my prized pastries in her possession.
Now it shames me to say that a small part of me hoped to see Olivia return from the school, bag in hand, saying that it isn’t culturally appropriate to hand someone unexpected baked goods. On the contrary though, it was well received. The lady was surprised but moved by the gesture. Then it was school holidays…again (yes, this is very frequent) and we did not see her until after the break. “Aimes-tu spider-man?” the boy asked Luc. He nodded his head slowly, then followed his new friend into class. “He has been waiting to thank Luc the entire holiday for the pain au chocolat”, his mom told us. Apparently, the pastry made a big impact on Luc’s classmate and he was eager to play together in the new school term. I was amazed at how a simple act of kindness and obedience opened a new relationship so easily, even though the act was more than a few weeks earlier. There is a photo that has been doing the rounds on social media in France. It is a building that has been graffitied with the words, “Life is pain”, spray painted in black. Someone else came along though and added the words “au chocolat” in blue at the end of the phrase, so that it now reads, “Life is pain au chocolat”. I love this picture and the story above, as it reminds me of the lesson from Romans 2. It is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. His kindness is not because we deserve it, it is amid our sin and brokenness. It is undeserved yet given. If anyone says, “life is pain”, it is only because of sin. It is the fruit of a fallen world that we experience pain and suffering. Yet, amid that, God meets us with more love, grace and kindness than we could ever understand and when we accept the sacrifice of Christ, the relationship between us and the Father is restored. Small acts of kindness stand out radically because the world can be so unkind. So much of what we hear seeks to divide into us and them. Kindness goes against the grain in a fallen world because it is a fruit of the Spirit. It is evidence of the work done in us after being reconciled through Christ. I am amazed at how such a simple act can have profound consequence, but I shouldn’t be. After all, this is what God has done for me. Spreading love doesn’t require a stage or a stadium, it is as simple as being obedient in the small things as well as the big ones. Read more... |
