I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who is fully satisfied. It seems we all are seeking to fill a void deep down in our heart and soul. Don’t get me wrong, I know people that have wonderful lives, surrounded by many who love and support them but, even so there’s a deep yearning in their hearts also.
Father help me. As our days overflow with social injustice, political discord and discourse, when hatred, prejudice, discrimination, every sort of injustice and flat out ugliness permeate every facet of the world around me, remind me Lord that I will always reap what I sow. Help me to sow love in the face of hatred. Remind me that every small gesture I make or step I take matters. Let the works of my hands and the meditations of my heart bring you glory and honor. Teach me how to see. Teach me how to listen. Teach me how to hear. Help me to return love to those who sow dishonesty, disloyalty and hatred. Lord help me to gain a heart of wisdom that overflows only in your love.
On this Valentine’s Day evening, when the world is celebrating Love, I couldn’t shake the pain I saw deep in the eyes of the homeless as I was out running errands today. They are someone’s daughter or son, sister or brother, mother or father, someone’s friend…. they had someone somewhere. The cars whisk by and no one seems to care. I have met many people who stand in judgment, and condemn them for being where they’re at.
But the wealthy? They’re just as easy to identify. They are the ones with people fawning over them, their spouses, their children, what they wear and most anything they do or don’t do is applauded.
In both of these situations, it isn’t the poverty, and it isn’t the wealth that made them stand out, but rather the people that were around them - shunning or fawning.
There have been times in my life that I have appeared self-assured, bold, and confident of the path that I was on. The truth is, under the self-confidence was an insecure person, second-guessing herself all the time!
The older I have gotten, the more time I spend wanting to do what’s right for God and others. There are times that I have immobilized myself second-guessing, and not wanting to be out of God’s will. I’ve come to learn that as I’ve kept close to my creator that it is His desires that He has placed on my heart!
Life’s circumstances and making the right decisions can be so hard. Do this, but don’t do that….
To follow Jesus truly is to be okay not knowing the when’s, the how’s or the why’s, but simply trusting that our creator knows our every thought, our every step – the good, the bad and the ugly and Loves us anyway! He will love us through it. It’s not our efforts. It’s not our mistakes. It’s not our accomplishments. It’s none of this those things that matters. What God seeks is an intimate relationship filled with childlike trust.
We are Loved. We were created to Love. We are not mistakes. We are perfectly created in the image of God. Gods plans for us are good.
In this climate of the daily increase of division, hatred and political vitriol, let us all remember the Oneness in which we were created. Let us put away all hypocrisy and keep our hearts and meditations on love and unity. Neither Father, Son or the blessed Holy Spirit are American politicians. All it takes is a little pressure and out of the mouth bursts the truths of what the heart full of.
Thinking about Black history month and the amazing black women that have been and continue to impact my life in such wonderful ways! Women in ministry, women in the arts, poets, authors and First Ladies. Do you know Madam CJ Walker? How about George Floyd?
Lord help me to remember that there are no “excepts” in this commandment. No except: that color, that side of the border, that side of the world, those that disagree with me, those that don’t follow You Jesus, those that I deem as sinners….and so on, and so on. Lord, help me to walk in LOVE.
Sometimes we just need to remind ourselves of how very much we are loved by Love Himself. When we truly grasp that deep down in our hearts -self doubt, fear and unworthiness evaporate. After all, if God is for us, who can be against us?
