sincere devotion

I was sitting in my room last night, around 10:30, and I was going to read some of my lovely Bible... but then I remembered that I brought it into the cafeteria and left it there (of course it was locked now!), I was heartbroken. I was very grateful to get my Bible back this afternoon. I had no idea how attached I was. Anyways, this afternoon I read Acts, chapter 21 specifically was amazingly enlightening. Acts 20:36-8 really struck me, it kind of describes what happened when Paul left the Ephesian elders. (This is an Ella paraphrase)
First he referenced a saying of Jesus (see prev. blog) "It is more blessed to give than receive". After saying that he knelt down with them all and prayed. Everyone was weeping as they embraced and kissed him. They were grieved because he had said they might never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship where they parted ways.
So a few things I'd like to pinpoint;
They knelt,
prayed together,
wept,
embraced,
kissed,
grieved,
and accompanied Paul to the ship.
See what devotion characterized their relationship? First, devotion to Christ, then to each other. Kneeling affirms the majesty and reverence of Christ, it is an act of submission; they were submitted to Christ. They prayed together; there was a great confidence that God heard them, they prioritized talking to God even in the emotionally tumultuous situation Paul's farewell had created. However, they still wept; they cared about Paul so much they wept upon his imminent departure. They were real with their emotions. They embraced and kissed; both physical ways to display the love one's feeling inside. At times I still wonder why we don't "greet each other with a holy kiss"? I mean ,there probably aren't very many people I'm close enough to that I would feel comfortable doing so, but it still seems like a good practice. They did not try to cover up their true feelings about never seeing him again - they grieved that fact, but that did not inhibit their display of love. They went out of their way to accompany Paul to his ship in their final farewell.
There's much we can learn about Christ-like devotion in those few verses.
Man! I didn't even get to Acts 21, but I'm written out for now...
till later...