Saturday, May 3

Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 11; Ezekiel 3:4-17; Matthew 14:13-21; 1 Corinthians 15:35-44; Psalm 139

I remember one Christmas when I was about 5. I was working with my mother as we decorated the Christmas tree. My mom tried to get me to work with the more durable ornaments on the lower portion of the tree (we had 2 cats and a dog so the durable ornaments HAD to be hung on the lower portion of the tree). I insisted, however, that I was old enough to work with the glass ornaments that were hung higher. When my mom stepped out of the room for a few minutes, I dove into the box with the glass ornaments and proceeded to try to hang one ornament up high. Wouldn’t you know the ornament slipped through my fingers and broke on the floor. That ornament was one of my mother’s favorite ornaments. So what did I do to rectify the situation? I did what any five year old would do: I grabbed a broom in the kitchen and swept the broken parts under the refrigerator. My mom came back into the room and we finished decorating the tree. Nothing was said about what happened. Several years later - when my family was decorating another tree - I remember what I had done many years earlier. I decided it was time to come clean, so I nervously told my mom what happened. She smiled and said, “I already knew that.” That day I learned an important lesson. It wasn’t that my mother’s love for me changed that day. No, her love for me was constant. What changed was my awareness of - and understanding of the depths of that love. I learned that she loved me for who I was - not for who I pretended to me. That same sentiment was captured by the psalmist in Psalm 139. In that passage the psalmist beings by acknowledging God’s role in his life: “I’m an open book to you”. The psalmist continues by observing “You know when I leave and when I get back, I’m never out of your sight.” So many individuals lead lives of hopelessness and fear as they struggle to come to terms with parts of themselves. They spend much time trying to prove or earn the love and respect of God and others. Today’s psalm calls us to realize that there is no reason to try to be anything other than yourself; for God already knows and accepts who you are. The only person left struggling to accept you is most often you. Today, I would encourage you to take time celebrating a God who knows and loves us: not for who God thinks us to be, but rather for exactly who we are. Til next time…