Life…Life…Life

 

“…life…life…life…left behind at every touch.”

I haven’t finished Carmichael’s book about Mimosa yet, but one of the things I’ve been contemplating the last few days while reading it, is something that Lilias Trotter said one day while observing a bee covered in pollen, “He was hovering over some blackberry sprays just touching flowers here and there, yet all unconsciously life…life…life…was left behind at every touch.” 

The day that Mimosa had her brief encounter with Amy Carmichael, and Carmichael only had time to tell her that there was a God in heaven Who loved her, life was left behind at that touch. That is because those who belong to the Lord and have been in His true presence, are like the bee covered in pollen, unconsciously leaving behind life at every touch.  Life begets life, and quite often, our begetting is done unconsciously simply by living the life that the Beloved has appointed us to live. 

Whether a teacher, a baker, or a candlestick maker, when we walk with the Lord, we are clothed with Him, and everything in our path is touched with His life-giving spirit. On the day that Mimosa was awakened to the truth of Who God is, it wasn’t because Carmichael’s words were particularly eloquent, nor many. It was simply because her words were full of the Lord’s life-giving spirit. And on that day, Carmichael left behind life…life…life…at every touch. 

Oh Lord, make us like the bee. 

(John 6:63) It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

(John 5:21) For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wishes.

(2 Cor 3:6) And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

(Acts 5:18-21) They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.” At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.