Friday, August 10, 2018

A Beautiful Whole

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Seen from a distance the lantana blooms look like a single flower, but on closer inspection you see it is made up of many tiny flowers. Small, almost insignificant, pieces making up a lovely whole when gathered together.
We have a tendency to look at our lives with judgemental eyes - that relentless internal critic. What if we took all the little moments - the time we brought a meal to an ailing friend, cleaned the bathroom for the millionth time, visited an aging family member, listened to a teenager's heart, held the door for the elderly man with a walker, spoke an encouraging word to a weary young mom, mowed the neighbors' lawn, prayed with a friend, stayed up all night with a little one - and saw them as a beautiful whole? 
I think that's how the Father sees us. Sure, there's the "messy" part, but oh how those "small" moments bring Him joy.
"For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me....
'For I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these ... you did for Me."

Matthew 25:35,36,40