This morning I took my somewhat customary stroll down the driveway with Elijah's dog Shadow. As she frolicked about and sniffed at every snake hole she could find and I listened to my iTunes playlist, I was mesmerized by the beauty of the morning: how the sunlight penetrated the clouds and seemed to come down in single rays to the ground, how the shadows fell gracefully on some parts of the Sioux River bluff while others were illuminated, and even how the grass and dandelions danced in the breeze.
I see something beautiful every time I go on a walk, even every time I look outside.
When I look at people, I don't always see beauty. Sometimes I see through my Coke-bottle judgment glasses. Sometimes I see stubbornness or laziness or dishonesty. Sometimes I see manipulation or disrespect. Granted, there are those people whom I'm impressed by constantly, but like a personality editor, I have the propensity to spot little inconsistencies in character. That, my friend, tells you more about my character than about those whom I am judging. For the record, I do the same thing with myself.
It's hard for me to imagine a God who loves us regardless.
I am amazed by a God who loves us before and during everything: before failed marriages, during parenting mistakes, before brushes with the law, during alcoholism, before our faith, during our weakness.
In my humanness, I cannot understand, but I am thankful for a God who does. God can and does work through our weaknesses: "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me" (2 Corinthians 2:9).
Where we start, God does not leave us. Rather than be complacent with our problems or judgmental of others' issues, we need to see through the rose-colored, blood-soaked, redemptive eyes of Jesus Christ. We are not alone. We are not worthy; we are made worthy through God's sacrifice of His son. Once we truly understand this (and I have a long way to go), I have a hunch that we will see beauty even in all people.
When I look at people, I don't always see beauty. Sometimes I see through my Coke-bottle judgment glasses. Sometimes I see stubbornness or laziness or dishonesty. Sometimes I see manipulation or disrespect. Granted, there are those people whom I'm impressed by constantly, but like a personality editor, I have the propensity to spot little inconsistencies in character. That, my friend, tells you more about my character than about those whom I am judging. For the record, I do the same thing with myself.
It's hard for me to imagine a God who loves us regardless.
I am amazed by a God who loves us before and during everything: before failed marriages, during parenting mistakes, before brushes with the law, during alcoholism, before our faith, during our weakness.
In my humanness, I cannot understand, but I am thankful for a God who does. God can and does work through our weaknesses: "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me" (2 Corinthians 2:9).
Where we start, God does not leave us. Rather than be complacent with our problems or judgmental of others' issues, we need to see through the rose-colored, blood-soaked, redemptive eyes of Jesus Christ. We are not alone. We are not worthy; we are made worthy through God's sacrifice of His son. Once we truly understand this (and I have a long way to go), I have a hunch that we will see beauty even in all people.
