Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.
Jesus said these words knowing that he would face the cross in the next 24 hours. But Jesus had been giving up his life before the cross beginning when he left the glory of the Father to live as a man in our world.
I think that I have thought about this verse as a one time deal - you lay down your life once. But maybe this verse describes more than that. Maybe we lay down our lives a little every time we put our friends' needs before ours. I see and feel this kind of love from Thomas who spent many hours over the last 3 days following me around while I took pictures in the mountains in the rain.
As we go forward in our lives after this Easter Sunday I pray that we will each see how we can show this greatest kind of love as we lay down our lives for our friends when we think of their needs first and seek to serve them by loving the way that Jesus commanded.
Here are some pictures I took this weekend thanks to Thomas standing in the rain and waiting patiently while I took pictures. We went on the wildlife trail at the Chimneys and to Roaring Fork. The picture of the Bleeding Hearts and the picture of Thomas holding the Tripod while he looks up something on his phone for me were taken Thursday night at the Knoxville Botanical Gardens. The gallery only shows a thumbnail of the pictures. Click on the picture to see the full image.