“Human love is attracted to beauty.
God’s love creates beauty from nothing,
where there would have been ugliness otherwise.”
This is the week that pastors from all over the denomination gather together for community, learning and to be challenged. I cannot believe it has been a year since I was beginning the call process and meeting with our denominational leaders to tell them what my dreams were for my future in ministry. And then to be here this year, realizing that my call at my church is both nothing and everything I dreamt of in those conversations. It is amazing to see how God has worked in the past year, sliding things around and creating something out of nothing.
Our theme for this week is found in Ephesians 4 and this morning a former professor of mine spoke the words written at the top of this post. Before the service this morning I sat down for a few moments with a dear friend and mentor of mine and he told me that my life was like a legacy of who God is, that looking at my life – God’s hand was clear. Then I heard these words. As a pastor, I have never felt sufficient enough to love his people the way God has, and this quote gave me words to understand why. It is because I am human, I cannot love the way that he loves his people. But when I look back on my life, on where God has brought me – his love for me is undeniable. He has created this beautiful life around me out of nothing and even though I am human and merely attracted to beauty. I pray that he gives me sight beyond my biases, that he would love others through me.