As part of our oncology unit this month in medical school, I was lucky enough to hear from the parents of this little girl this week. This is Alex: she was diagnosed with a serious childhood cancer when she was only 1, quickly developed a type of cancer that was not curable by any conventional treatments, and died of that cancer at age 8. When she was 4, Alex started a lemonade stand to raise money to help her doctors find new cancers treatments for herself and her friends - this ultimately turned into a national charity that raised over a million dollars for cancer research in her own lifetime. Additionally, Alex participated in experimental cancer therapies to help devise new treatments that would help her own cancer and that of others.
While hearing about this remarkable little girl's life, I was drawn to the following verse that I'd chatted a little bit about before in John 15:
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this that my joy may be complete in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15: 9-13
What struck me the most about this story was this little girl's willingness to put aside her own safety and comfort for the benefit of others. While I often claim that I have great love for my family and friends, would I be able to do the same? If given the choice, would I sacrifice my livelihood and even my life for the betterment of those that I love? Would I do that even if the person who I did that for did not love me back in return? When faced with this extreme example of human love, I cannot help but think about how much more Christ loves us. I don't know about you, but I certainly want to remain in that love. Christ tells us that by obeying his command and loving others with the sacrificial love with which He has loved us, we can remain in His love and presence. I pray that today we seek out ways to love each other sacrificially and so remain in Christ's love.
One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. - Psalm 27:4
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