• Español
  • Historical Archives
  • Convention
  • Contact Us
Support the Ministry Give
Mennonite Church USA Mennonite Church USA Mennonite Church USA Mennonite Church USA
  • About
    • What We Believe
      • Statements and Resolutions
      • Confession of Faith In a Mennonite Perspective
    • History
    • Find a Church
    • FAQ
      • FAQ about Mennonites
      • FAQ about MC USA
    • Executive Board Staff
    • Church Structure
      • Area Conferences
  • Ministry
    • Church Vitality
      • Women in Leadership
      • Church Planting
      • Wellbeing in Ministry
      • Ministerial Inquiry Form
    • Faith Formation
      • Children and Families
      • Faith Formation with Youth
      • Faith Formation with Adults
      • Christian Practices
      • Deep Faith Conference
    • Peacebuilding
      • Learn Pray Join
      • Israel/Palestine Initiatives
      • Undoing Racism
      • Undoing Sexism
    • The Corinthian Plan
      • Corinthian Plan Staff
      • History of the Corinthian Plan
      • Why Mutual Aid Matters
      • Corinthian Plan Subsidies
      • Wellness Incentives
  • Agencies
    • Everence
    • Mennonite Education Agency
    • Mennonite Mission Network
    • MennoMedia
    • Mennonite Health Services Alliance
  • Resources
  • Events
  • News & Media
    • News & Media
    • MenoTicias
    • Publications and Newsletters
  • Blog
Mennonite Church USA Mennonite Church USA
  • About
    • What We Believe
      • Statements and Resolutions
      • Confession of Faith In a Mennonite Perspective
    • History
    • Find a Church
    • FAQ
      • FAQ about Mennonites
      • FAQ about MC USA
    • Executive Board Staff
    • Church Structure
      • Area Conferences
  • Ministry
    • Church Vitality
      • Women in Leadership
      • Church Planting
      • Wellbeing in Ministry
      • Ministerial Inquiry Form
    • Faith Formation
      • Children and Families
      • Faith Formation with Youth
      • Faith Formation with Adults
      • Christian Practices
      • Deep Faith Conference
    • Peacebuilding
      • Learn Pray Join
      • Israel/Palestine Initiatives
      • Undoing Racism
      • Undoing Sexism
    • The Corinthian Plan
      • Corinthian Plan Staff
      • History of the Corinthian Plan
      • Why Mutual Aid Matters
      • Corinthian Plan Subsidies
      • Wellness Incentives
  • Agencies
    • Everence
    • Mennonite Education Agency
    • Mennonite Mission Network
    • MennoMedia
    • Mennonite Health Services Alliance
  • Resources
  • Events
  • News & Media
    • News & Media
    • MenoTicias
    • Publications and Newsletters
  • Blog
Home / #MennoLove / Love is a Verb: Almost like a burr
Sep 12 2016

Love is a Verb: Almost like a burr

2016 9 12 Sara M

Sara Mwagura just moved back to her home state of North Dakota and is clinging to the last days of summer by taking her daughter out for lots of walks along the Red River. She works as a lead teacher at the Wellness Center Child Care at North Dakota State University.

In true toddler fashion, my two-year-old daughter stood in the woods on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon engrossed for a good 20 minutes with the dullest-looking little thing in nature — a dried up bush full of burrs. At first we worked together to stack them on top of each other and count them, but then she just wanted to make the biggest burr ball she could. So, determined to be present in the moment and not pull out my phone, bored though I was, I pondered the burrs. These passive little seeds are capable of some very active action-verbing.

They not only stick to whatever passes their way, but they stick aggressively and assertively — audaciously. They make their presence known and spread themselves quite wildly without ever making any sort of to-do list.

It was impressed upon me from a very young age that loving people was very important. When I started saying prayers before I slept at night, probably around age six or seven, I created a ritual of telling God who I loved. As I went through the list of family and friends, I would feel anxiety rising in my chest, thinking that I better not leave anyone out. So with a rushed discipline, I’d end my prayers with “And I love everyone in the world. And I love you God. And Jesus. Amen.”  Phew, that should cover it, and I could sleep peacefully knowing I’d done my loving.

But I also knew that love was more than just saying that I loved everyone. So every so often, I made LV_simple-01my way into the closet I shared with my sister. It was a deep walk-in closet with no light. Halfway to the back, under the hanging clothes was a very large box — the doll box. This is where we kept all the dolls and stuffed animals that we did not play with on a daily basis. I would climb into that box and pull out the ones at the very bottom, the ones who had been neglected for months, maybe years. These were the ones that had matted hair and were missing an eye or a limb. And with them I would play. Phew, duty done. No one in my room felt unloved.

I think it’s fair to say that I was earnest, though far from perfect, in my childhood quest to love. And as I entered high school and college, I wanted to take that love further — out of the doll box, into the world — to orphans in Russia, to people who went hungry, to the lonely and suffering. So when it came time to do a cross-cultural learning experience at Eastern Mennonite University, I chose to volunteer for an entire year in Beira, Mozambique with Serving and Learning Together (SALT), a program of Mennonite Central Committee. Here was a chance to really do some action-verbing.

I moved in with my host family within a week or two of arriving. And I distinctly recall the first morning I woke up there — lying in bed, on a lumpy mattress I’d just shared with one of the three teenage girls that lived there. We were complete strangers who couldn’t even communicate and were sharing a bed. The morning outside the window of the apartment building was busy — people shouting, dogs barking, water dripping constantly — dirty water that had who knows what in it. And there were people begging out there, right outside my window. And here were people sleeping right next to me, people who didn’t have what I have. Here was my chance for loving. “So now what?” I remember thinking. “What do I do now?”

And it hit me then — the meaning of those sermons on the balance between being and doing. It hit me that I didn’t have to make to-do lists of ways to love people. But rather, the Love of God in me is powerful enough to lead me in my loving.

Like the hooks on a burr, God’s love in me will act without me having it all figured out. It will act audaciously, spreading wildly, sticking to people, making a lasting impression. Love is a verb. It is active.

But I have been freed of figuring out what that means. If I open myself to God’s love, it will do the action-verbing, using me to be a friend, an ally, a healer, a feeder, a prophet, a cleaner, a listener, a priest, a preacher. I’ll still fail that love but thankfully, that’s where God’s grace starts it’s work. And I rest freely, knowing there is a power at work greater than myself.

mennolove

  • Posted in #MennoLove, Menno Snapshots
  • Tagged #mennolove, Love is a Verb, MCC, Mennonite Central Committee, SALT, Sara Mwag
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • E-Mail
Official comments policy for users of Mennonite Church USA’s websites and other social networking tools. We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates this policy.
  • The purpose of comments is to engage in constructive dialogue.
  • Please provide your own full name.
  • Be respectful. If you’re offering criticism, focus on others’ ideas — not their motives, person, character or faith. Consider the log in your own eye before pressing ‘Enter.’
Comments are moderated. Comments with any content that is deemed obscene, libelous, defamatory or hateful toward an individual or group will not be approved. Comments will remain open for 10 days.
    --
Política de comentarios oficiales para los usuarios de los sitios en Internet y otras herramientas de redes sociales pertenecientes a la Iglesia Menonita de EE.UU. Nos reservamos el derecho de eliminar cualquier comentario que viola esta política.
  • El propósito de los comentarios es entablar el diálogo constructivo.
  • Por favor brinde su propio nombre completo.
  • Sea respetuoso. Si ofrece críticas, enfóquese en las ideas del otro, no en sus motivos, su persona, su carácter o su fe. Considere la viga en su propio ojo antes de apretar ‘Intro’
Los comentarios son analizados. Aquellos comentarios que contengan contenido que se considere obsceno, calumnioso, difamatorio u odioso hacia algún individuo o grupo no será aprobado. Los comentarios permanecerán abiertos por 10 días.

1 Comment

  1. June Seat
    September 13, 2016 at 12:16 pm · Reply

    Sara, I am so glad I found your FB page recently! I would not want to have missed this excellent blog of yours. I enjoyed the way it was written and your metaphor of the burr. (I appreciated the subtle way you spoke of being in the moment and resisting your phone temptation.)

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Explore categories

Search

3145 Benham Ave. Suite 1
Elkhart, IN 46517

718 N. Main St.
Newton, KS 67114
Phone: (866) 866-2872
  • News & Media
  • Español
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
  • Convention
  • Resources
  • Give
  • Staff
  • Employment
©2020 Mennonite Church USA   |   Subscribe to PeaceMail to receive news and blogs compiled into one weekly email.   SUBSCRIBE