Good morning…
I have been enjoying Kate Bowler’s Joyfully Mediocre Summer Blessing Series. Each Wednesday her weekly email arrives in my inbox. Yesterday’s morning message wove itself into me.
*****
God, I can’t tell which person I will be today:
kind and loving,
turn-the-other-cheek and I’ll-be-right-here,
soft but strong.
I will keep no record of wrongs.
I might be someone else entirely:
brittle and judgmental,
I’m-taking-my-share and you-deal-with-it-alone,
hard but weak.
I will keep every record, dammit.
I am an accountant in this world
that does not give me what I need.
God, these multiple selves, you know
(of course you know) are parts of a whole.
You send the love I have to give.
You grieve the pain that causes me to withhold.
You send your spirit every day
not to stitch us back together
but to heal every tender part from the inside out.
So, in the meantime, bless this generous self,
bless this breakable self,
Bless these many parts and make them whole.
Amen.
P.S. As Jessica always says, sometimes you just need to eat a banana and take a walk.
******
Filtering through our fractured lives, God sends the love we have to give. Embracing our mediocre mess, God grieves the pain that causes us to withhold. Quietly healing every tender part, inside then out, God fills us with the breath of Spirit.
Dear Lord, please bless both our broken and our beautiful parts, as you gently make us whole.
The whole body depends on Christ, and all the parts of the body are joined and held together. Each part does its own work to make the whole body grow and be strong with love (Ephesians 4:16, NCV).
…Sue…
