Hi everyone,
So I need to express myself as a proud dad. As some of you might know, our daughter has been taking musical theatre classes for the past couple of years and is actually getting pretty serious about it. This might come as a surprise to some of you that know her, as she is generally very quiet and shy.
But when she gets on stage… my lanta.
Today was their year end performance and I thought she did exceptionally well. You might think that of course I would say that as her dad, and you’re right, I probably would. At the same time, because I’m her dad I can also say that she really stretched herself beyond what anyone could have thought possible.
So she did exceptionally well, not because she is an amazing actor, singer, or dancer. But because she outperformed what anyone might have expected, how she did last year or even earlier this year, basically her entire self.
She grew in her talent, ability, and confidence. And that makes her a winner in my book (and also because she has a pretty cool dad).
Here are the readings for next week:
1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21
Psalm 16
Galatians 5:1, 13-25
Luke 9:51-62
and a video of these readings being read:
If we’re honest, Jesus sounds kind of mean in this passage. I mean, the people were willing to follow him, but they just needed to take care of a little business first. But Jesus just calls them out for it and says they aren’t ready. Like, really?
It sounds like Jesus is asking too much. It seems like Jesus is being too demanding. It’s almost like Jesus makes it hard to follow him.
I’m reminded of a Danish proverb that I heard (today, actually), that goes, “you bake with the flour you have.” As in, you can’t be what you aren’t. You can’t do what you can’t do. And you can’t follow Jesus if you have other things to take care of.
But that’s the thing. No offense to the Danes, but we aren’t limited by the flour that we have. We can be stretched beyond our limits. Jesus asks us to follow him, yes, but he also blesses us with gifts, talents, and the strength to do so. Just like a little kid who can come out of her shell when the bright lights are shining on her, so can we live up to our calling not to be perfect, but to be forgiven.
This doesn’t mean that it’ll be easy. But it does mean we can do it. And even if we don’t, Jesus will continue to wait, look out for us, and reach out his hand of love ready to bring us in. And that is some awesome news.
Thanks be to God! Have a great week, everyone!