A 12-year-old risks her own life to pull her drowning friend from the sea
At a beach in Conwy, Wales, a 12-year-old girl saved her 14-year-old friend, who was pulled under by the tide and suffered a seizure while underwater. Reaching for the only part of her friend she could grab, she dragged her unconscious to shore, even as she was pulled under herself. Her friend survived. The rescued girl's mother said the young hero put herself in greater danger to save her daughter.
"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends."
Jesus said these words on the last night before He laid down His own life, naming the highest love He knew: to risk everything for a friend. It is startling to see that love in a twelve-year-old. Pulled under by the same current, she could have saved only herself. Instead she reached for her friend and held on. That instinct, to put your own life between danger and someone you love, is no small human virtue. Jesus called it the greatest love there is, and He lived it all the way to the cross. Every act like it, however young the hands, is an echo of His.
Lord Jesus, You laid down Your life for us while we were still far from You, the greatest love there is. Thank You for every echo of that love, even a child reaching for a friend in the water. Make us people who hold on to one another, and who never forget the love that held on to us. Amen.