“…he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion
until the day of Christ Jesus.”
- Philippians 1:6
I don’t know about y’all, but this verse gives me so much hope. It reminds me that our performance is not a prerequisite to His love. It reminds me that His love is actually the very thing that transforms us, because when I lean into the truth that I am already deeply loved and cherished, it begins to shift everything in my life. I remember that I don’t have to hustle for my worth. I remember that He knows who I am, that He sees me completely with all of my faults and weaknesses, and loves me anyway. I still can’t get over this. Grace is offensive. It seems to us as if we should have to earn love, but God stands at the ready to lavish it on us. He invites us to rest in Him and to let His love complete good work in us. When I rest in His love, I am less concerned with what others think of me, it’s easier to silence the lies I so often believe, storms of shame and self-hatred are often stilled, and I have a broader vision for OTHERS and what they might need or how I might share the love I’ve experienced with them. Love is a powerful force and here LOVE reminds us that we are all on a journey.
I don’t know how y’all are doing, but I swing from managing this whole Covid-19 crisis pretty well with a good dose of gratitude, to falling apart at the seams and bursting into tears for no apparent reason at all. I lose my patience with myself, with my husband, with my kids. The collective and individual grief is real, and it has been so good to be gentle with my own heart, especially on days that the sadness weighs heavier. I breathe deep and try to remind myself that there is grace and hope, but I also just let myself grieve. I recently heard that naming the losses is a powerful thing because otherwise we spend so much energy trying to bury or distract ourselves from our sadness. There is an unprecedented amount of sorrow and grief on a global scale, but there is enough love and empathy to go around. I’m trying to be gentle with myself in the moments that I fall apart and whisper that I have a gentle shepherd who is with us in this valley, and who promises to complete the good work He starts in us.
