Sandpaper Lady

I can’t remember where I first heard about her.  The woman who can rub you the wrong way.  The one that can rub your emotions raw.   The woman who can leave you feeling brush burned and bleeding.   Her name is Sandpaper Lady.  

We have all met women, and even some men, that fit this description.  Perhaps there are some in your ministry right now.  Our instinct may be to run the other way.  Avoid this lady at all costs.  I dare say that some of us may have even prayed that she wouldn’t show up for a certain activity or service because we just couldn’t face her that day.  

When I first heard about her, there was a lady in my life that fit this description perfectly.  I avoided her and I wasn’t the only one.  She drained me.  Trying to have a conversation with her was the last thing I felt like doing.  It was awkward, sometimes one-sided, and often times painful.  As if that weren’t enough, the odors coming from her person were not a sweet aroma! 

I was encouraged to love Sandpaper Lady, to look for something good in her and praise her, take an interest in her life and maybe even look deep enough to see if she might be suffering in some hidden way that no one could see.  I was told that if I did this, I might even learn to love Sandpaper Lady.  I could not possibly imagine that last thing happening, but God works in mysterious ways.  

So Sandpaper Lady became a project.  I didn’t avoid eye contact and actually tried to engage her in a conversation from time to time.  Even though the conversations were awkward, I started to hear bits and pieces that I could assemble together about her life and what she was enduring.  Once I even reached out and touched her arm with compassion as she was talking.  And then I noticed an amazing thing…

My rough edges that splintered when around her, started to smooth out.  I started to notice that  I really cared about this lady and what she might be going through.  I missed her when she didn’t attend an event or service and silently prayed that everything was ok.  It was then that I realized…I looked at her as a project, but maybe, just maybe, it was actually me that was the project!

*****

When our Lord was speaking to the crowd a beggar came 

Who fell down before Christ and called out His name.

The disciples quickly came, And they turned the man away,

Till they saw the Lord’s compassion And they head the Savior say:

Love as I loved, Give as I gave;

These are the people that I came to save.

Love as I loved, and I will shine through.

Let others see my love, in you.

Yesterday my time was filled with vain and empty things,

And I was so busy with all that life brings.

People crowded in my way, But I pushed them all away,

They were just a senseless bother Till I heard the Savior say:

Love as I loved, Give as I gave;

These are the people that I came to save.

Love as I loved, and I will shine through.

Let others see my love, in you.

~Ron Hamilton