I am thinking this morning about my friend Esmie. She loves all things baby. She used to be a NICU nurse. She works for the Corpus Christi Pregnancy Research Center now and tries to help save babies. I remember one time she said that her favorite thing in all the world was the smell of a newborn’s head.

At the time that I was getting to know Esmie, I had another friend named Kristin. Her husband Quinn was deployed in the Middle East while she was pregnant with their second child. Kristin, Esmie, and I all attended BSF together, but Esmie and Kristin didn’t know each other that well. One day in our prayer group, Kristin mentioned that God had answered her prayers and that Esmie was going to be her helper in the delivery room. I was surprised and thankful to God with her and admittedly a little relieved because I wanted to be there for Kristin, but I was hoping someone else would do the blood and hospital part. How did they even make that connection? Of course, God did it. He knew Kristin’s need and Esmie’s gift.

I think sometimes now about how Esmie was there for such an intimate and special moment, the birth of Daniel, and how they never even see one another now (hard since the Skinners are posted in Korea), never were best of friends. But Esmie loved Kristin, whom she did not know well.

When we moved to Tacoma, we had floated around to different churches and had just started attending a small church plant regularly while I was “great with child.” Two energetic, fun-loving moms whom I had barely met threw me a baby shower just a few days before Peter was born. Not only did Leslie and Julie put together a baby shower, but they had planned to do pedicures at the party. Leslie literally washed my feet and painted my toenails. I’ll never forget that service in the name of Christ for a big pregnant, somewhat lonely girl who had started coming round to church events.

Maybe some of the most meaningful acts of love are those we perform for those whom we barely know, whose need we can fill and they don’t “deserve” it by their friendship to us. Like Christ dying for those who were still sinners, still His enemies. I see it here weekly. A new missionary family will arrive and some people spend all day painting their house or helping them move in. Will’s extended family does this sort of thing all the time.

This post is to encourage you to say “yes” to serve a mere acquaintance, even if you don’t know how they will react or if it seems like an intrusion. I am sorry for all the lost opportunities because I thought, “Well, I don’t really know them that well.”

Maybe you want to tell a story about someone you didn’t know serving you. You can leave a comment for our encouragement.