Love, sacrifice, and joy

By Jeff Becraft

There was no Friday email last week because grandkids came into town on Friday, and then on Monday, I had to head out because I had a great opportunity to speak to the ACCA conference. These are people who are childcare administrators, who are helping to rescue kids from lives of being abused and neglected and abandoned… to love them and restore their lives to what their lives were meant to be.

I was the first speaker to go on the first night. I was to encourage them… but it was they who encouraged me. I was so humbled by these people who have genuinely given their lives to help kids, and that is no easy thing. That is not a nine to five job…. And it is not like you can leave your job at work. It is something that takes your entire heart and soul to be involved in.

And yet, the joy that I met in these people…

They are in the midst of difficult situations with young people who have faced what no human being should ever have to face, of trying to rescue and restore these lives… the challenges, the heartaches, the hurt… yet there was still a joy in their eyes about sharing love with young people who needed it so much.. They felt privileged to be able to be part of this critical work.

I heard stories of people who went out of their way, on their own time, off the clock, to help some child who had a special need so that child would feel loved and valued. At breakfast one morning, I met a wife of a staff member and she was sharing her personal story with all of us at the table of growing up in the foster care system and the difficulties she faced and how she eventually found healing, wholeness, and restoration. If we were simply sitting there eating breakfast, you would never have guessed she had faced all that in her life. She has dedicated her life to helping kids and adults involved in the foster care system.

I was just extremely humbled by everyone and I started thinking, “Who am I to come in here and speak to this group?” Now out of every person I met, not a single person was out to impress me. They were just being who they were. They were just living out their identity.

And yet I was so impressed by their love, their sacrifice, their care, their joy, their vision.

My role was to encourage them but I am the one who walked away encouraged. And I think that happens a lot of times in our life, when we simply live out who we are and we treat people with love and respect. We have a much bigger impact than we will ever realize.

These people were just ordinary people. But they had a deep love and commitment. And to me, that made them heroes.

Again, not a single person was trying to impress me or impact me, but I walked away wishing I could have stayed for the whole week and been part of the whole conference… just to be around these people who were loving others to the utmost.

So as you go through your life today, be encouraged. We don’t have to impress anybody. We don’t have to prove anything to anybody. Just live out who you are and live a life of love and respect and joy, and live a life with an eye on others; not to impress others, but to lift others up. And there is great joy in that kind of love.

Jeff Becraft is the Director of Our Place of Hope located in Columbia, South Carolina, where people find encouragement to regain meaning, purpose, and hope for their lives. Jeff has dedicated much of his life to helping shift the vision of people’s lives. If you would like Jeff to speak to your group or event, you can connect with him at  [email protected].