A House Full of Friends
We cannot grow alone. We are all interconnected, and we need one another. We grow only as each part does its work. Jesus Himself needed the extended family of believers to fill a gap for Him. As He hung on the cross in agony, knowing His death was close, He looked out into the crowd and saw His beloved mother. His pain in seeing her pain must have been overwhelming. With a broken heart and eyes filled with tears, He gazed tenderly at her. And then He saw the disciple whom He loved standing nearby. Jesus said to His mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. John, Jesus' beloved disciple, became a son in Mary's extended family. He filled the gap that Jesus left when He died. Yes, God created us to live in a family. And so we shall.
It's half past one, I have a little less than seven hours of sleep if I ended right here. Yet, I find myself overwhelmed with thoughts and emotions, doubts and fears, questions and answers. God has placed people into my life because I need to be taught, I need to be humbled, and I need to be held accountable. Some make me laugh; some make me cry. Some I learn from or deter from. Why can one be so proud, another so bitter, and third so strong? These differences among each and everyone of us make us a family of colors, of strengths and weaknesses---that without the challenges, we cannot be taught.
I walked into a room and found a group of people who I was asked to identify as my brothers and sisters. This room, previously so foreign, became something I had to learn and grasp and follow. I saw her weakness, his pain, their happiness, and my struggle. Somehow although I had been on my own all this time, I existed more than as just an independent entity, but more as his lesson to overcome confusion, her lesson to deal with reality, and their lesson to face the challenge. These lessons---nobody, including myself, knew I had been teaching. At the same time, she was teaching ME a lesson of humility; he was teaching me loyalty; they were teaching me commitment. To learn, you must want to be taught...I remember one who said: "Learn from the mistakes of others: you can't live long enough to make all the mistakes yourself." I always knew this was a world of relationships. Whether good or bad, it just is. I did not choose to interact with them because they were among the best, but we established relationships because God wanted it that way. He did not mean to pursue, she did not mean to bear, i did not mean to hurt. Yet somehow, amidst all this learning and needing of each other, our love for God has grown in spite of all the tests of faith. We grow because God wanted us to grow. We fellowship because that it is our opportunity to be a witness. And so I continue to pray for serenity, to accept the things we cannot change; for courage, to confront the difficulties that lay ahead; and for wisdom, to distinguish between the right and the wrong.
I am a sinner in search of His grace. You have been placed into my life because it had been a promise to help me learn from you.
We cannot grow alone. We are all interconnected, and we need one another. We grow only as each part does its work. Jesus Himself needed the extended family of believers to fill a gap for Him. As He hung on the cross in agony, knowing His death was close, He looked out into the crowd and saw His beloved mother. His pain in seeing her pain must have been overwhelming. With a broken heart and eyes filled with tears, He gazed tenderly at her. And then He saw the disciple whom He loved standing nearby. Jesus said to His mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. John, Jesus' beloved disciple, became a son in Mary's extended family. He filled the gap that Jesus left when He died. Yes, God created us to live in a family. And so we shall.
It's half past one, I have a little less than seven hours of sleep if I ended right here. Yet, I find myself overwhelmed with thoughts and emotions, doubts and fears, questions and answers. God has placed people into my life because I need to be taught, I need to be humbled, and I need to be held accountable. Some make me laugh; some make me cry. Some I learn from or deter from. Why can one be so proud, another so bitter, and third so strong? These differences among each and everyone of us make us a family of colors, of strengths and weaknesses---that without the challenges, we cannot be taught.
I walked into a room and found a group of people who I was asked to identify as my brothers and sisters. This room, previously so foreign, became something I had to learn and grasp and follow. I saw her weakness, his pain, their happiness, and my struggle. Somehow although I had been on my own all this time, I existed more than as just an independent entity, but more as his lesson to overcome confusion, her lesson to deal with reality, and their lesson to face the challenge. These lessons---nobody, including myself, knew I had been teaching. At the same time, she was teaching ME a lesson of humility; he was teaching me loyalty; they were teaching me commitment. To learn, you must want to be taught...I remember one who said: "Learn from the mistakes of others: you can't live long enough to make all the mistakes yourself." I always knew this was a world of relationships. Whether good or bad, it just is. I did not choose to interact with them because they were among the best, but we established relationships because God wanted it that way. He did not mean to pursue, she did not mean to bear, i did not mean to hurt. Yet somehow, amidst all this learning and needing of each other, our love for God has grown in spite of all the tests of faith. We grow because God wanted us to grow. We fellowship because that it is our opportunity to be a witness. And so I continue to pray for serenity, to accept the things we cannot change; for courage, to confront the difficulties that lay ahead; and for wisdom, to distinguish between the right and the wrong.
I am a sinner in search of His grace. You have been placed into my life because it had been a promise to help me learn from you.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home