Today is the Advent Sunday of love. It is the Sunday that is closest to Christmas Eve. I find it beautiful that love is the theme most closely associated with the birth of the Christ child.

As far as I am concerned – love is the bottom line of Christianity. It is what is meant to drive us, what every decision should be reduced to (what is the most loving decision here?), what should lead us to (like our Saviour) lay down our lives in service of others.

That might sound like a very lofty goal – laying down one’s life. But I remember a moment in a dollar store in the first few years of my ministry. I was there to buy toiletries and necessities to help supply a young woman in my congregation who would go on a missionary trip in the coming months. But I’d miscounted my money. What I thought was a twonie (a $2 coin) was actually a quarter. I had other change, but even with that, I found myself 25 cents short. I told the cashier to put my stuff aside, and I’d go take out more money (these were the days before the dollar store would let you tap your bank card to pay – it was cash or nothing). But a woman behind me in the line spoke up. She said, “you need a quarter? I’ve got a quarter you can have.”

Normally, I’m more self sufficient than is good for me. Normally, I would have said, “no, it’s fine, I can go get more money.” But for some reason, I found myself looking her in the eye and saying, “thank you, that’s so kind of you.” I accepted her quarter, purchased my stuff, and left the store.

It’s been, maybe 15 years (maybe more) since that happened, and I still think of that woman regularly. I don’t know her name, I couldn’t pick her out of a crowd. But that day, she laid down her life for me. Maybe just a little…maybe just 25 cents worth, but I’ve never forgotten it. And maybe that’s why God moved me to accept her little gift of a quarter. Maybe God wanted to show me, in a very personal, very real way, that small acts of love can have a huge impact.

This Advent, may you find ways to lay down your life for another. May you give what you are able, when you are able. May you know that whatever you are able to do likely has a much greater effect than you can imagine.