This morning, to celebrate God's great "YES!" to Jesus in the miracle of the empty tomb, I pulled a move that demonstrated the emptiness of my head. I caused needless worry for some dear friends, as well as some confusion for a wider range of friends. And at the time, I was too clueless to even realize the distress I was causing. Later, after a clue was forced through my thick skull, I felt pretty awful, but the friends who were hurt by my actions were amazingly gracious, and modeled God's forgiving love in a way that moved me deeply. (A bunch of us also got to make a connection with some new friends, which was what I had set out to do in the first place, and despite the confusion that was also an occasion for grace.)
In related news, the guy who is known to a great many family and friends as Mr. Church Guy didn't actually make it to a worship service on Easter Sunday. But I had an experience of the unexpected, undeserved, life-restoring grace of God that will make this Easter one I'll remember for a very long time.
2 comments:
I read such a cool thing written by Henri Nouwen about what it really means to bless other people (your blog somehow triggered this thought!). He said that to bless someone isn't just to compliment them, but "to say 'yes' to a person's Belovedness [God's beloved] ... to touch the original goodness of the other and call forth her/his belovedness ... The blessings that we give each other call forth the blessing that rests on us from all eternity. It is the deepest affirmation of the true self [as we are in Christ]. We need an ongoing blessing that allows us to hear in an ever-new way that we belong to a loving God who will never leave us alone, but will remind us always that we are guided by love on every step of our lives".
Thanks, Cori, that's really beautiful, and true. I love Nouwen.
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