Hi everyone,
Yesterday our daughter had a performance for her musical theatre school. Now this might surprise some of you, that she is taking musical theatre classes, as she is a pretty shy individual and a barely audible voice. Truth be told, it was a surprise to me as well when I first learned this is something she was interested in. But somehow, on stage or behind a camera, she find a whole different level of confidence and even joy that I don’t really see anywhere else.
So I’m glad that she had the drive and the willingness to go through with this, in spite of it being out of her dear old dad’s scope of possibility. I’m happy that she wasn’t discouraged by my “What?? Really???” reaction when she mentioned it was something she wanted to do. And I’m really proud of her for finding the courage to reach out of what might be her comfort zone, to do something that she believes in herself to be able to do, and to not let fear or uncertainty control her actions.
Because life is short. Although it might seem really long (especially during some years or periods), our time is very limited and it would be a shame if we wasted it on regret and fear and uncertainty.
Here are the readings for next week:
Isaiah 55:1-9
Psalm 63:1-8
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9
And a video of them being read:
Time truly is limited. Or at least, our time in these lives are. We all have a finite number of days in which we can do, serve, and make a difference. And often we let things get in the way. Things like pride (like the ancient Israelites), fear (like those Jesus was talking to), and our own uncertain views of ourselves and how much we can or can’t produce (like basically everyone else).
But these readings (and I’d argue much of scripture) tell us that while fear is a good thing in moderation that keeps us out of harm’s way, we mustn’t forget that the fear of God’s wrath or judgment shouldn’t be something to stop just from doing good.
Because God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
In other words, God is more concerned with us being us rather than “acting” good. God wishes us to follow the ways of righteousness and relationship over manipulation and control. God saves us from our shame so we don’t have to be afraid of that anymore.
Instead, we can live confidently in knowing that God’s love for us will never change and our place in God’s community is set. So our lives needn’t be controlled by the fear of judgment, but empowered by the gift of God’s grace and blessing.
So let’s live lives full of that grace and blessing, reflecting God’s love on all people!
Thanks be to God! Have a great week, everyone!