On 6th March 2010, Simon Barnes wrote an amazingly moving article in The Times about his second son Eddie, born with two holes in his heart and Down’s syndrome.

“What is Eddie for?” he asks poignantly. ” The Nazis sent people with Down’s to the ovens, because they polluted the purity of the race. And before we shudder at such barbarity, we should remember that most women pregnant with a baby with Down’s syndrome choose to abort. It’s clear that many people believe that a child with Down’s has no point: that such a being is extraneous to human needs, a mere burden on society and, in particular, on the parents. Best get rid of them…..

Shouldn’t an individual contribute something to society? Eddie’s function is to be loved, and to love in return. Perhaps that is everybody’s ultimate function. Eddie enriches the lives of his family and enriches the lives of those he comes into contact with outside. That seems to me to be a life right on the cutting edge of usefulness.”

Many of us have yet to truly comprehend the function that this father recognises his 8 year old possesses: “to be loved and to love in return.” We are fiercely, passionately, consistently, loyally loved by our Father and yet we shun it, doubt it, question it or run from it. What a beautiful understanding of humanity this father has. I read his article with celebration, tears and joy. To know that you are loved certainly enables you to love back. As 1 John 4:19 puts it, ‘We love because He first loved us’.

How well do you understand this?
How often do you question it’s truth?

Every time ‘life goes wrong’ or things hit an impasse, is your first thought ‘Does God really care? Does He love me as much as the next guy?’ Perhaps you need to remind yourself afresh today that your primary function in this moment is to bask in the truth of the height, depth, breadth and width of your creator’s love for you.

Then your life can, like Eddies, be on the ‘cutting edge of usefulness.’
So today, stop trying to be useful.

‘Drop Thy still dews of quietness
’til all our striving cease
take from our souls the strain and stress
and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of Thy peace
the beauty of Thy peace.’