I pray you find much grace in this
This was a profound reading for me this morning (below). I’ve always been in awe of how marriage parallels our relationship with God. In fact, in living life with Janell there is no doubt God put her in my life to also display how He sees me. She knows my entire life story. There is not one thing she doesn’t know yet at the same time she loves me. This is exactly how grace works. Its accepts all of you both the good and the bad and the light and the dark. It accepts you at your best while at the same time never falters at your worse. This to me has always been a mystery and has always kept me in awe.
Here is a quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
“The greatest mystery is not the most distant star; on the contrary, the closer something comes to us and the better we know it, then the more mysterious it becomes for us. The greatest mystery to us is not the most distant person, but the one next to us. The mystery of other people is not reduced by getting to know more and more about them. Rather, in their closeness, they become more and more mysterious. And the final depth of all mystery is when two people come so close to each other that they love each other. Nowhere in the world does one feel the might of the mysterious and its wonder as strongly as here. When two people know everything about each other, the mystery of the love between them becomes infinitely great. And only in this love do they understand each other, know everything about each other, know each other completely. And yet, the more they love each other and know about each other in love, the more deeply they know the mystery of their love. Thus, knowledge about each other does not remove the mystery, but rather makes it more profound. The very fact that the other person is so near to me is the greatest mystery.”
Yet here is God nearer to us beyond our wildest dreams. Knowing the number of hairs on our head or how many living cells comprise our bodies. He knows what each decision will be before we even make them, whether good or bad and for 33 years He would walk this earth knowing He would die by one of those decisions. But why would He do this? All because of the mysterious power of love. Personally, this is one of the most captivating things about this season. The Manger is such a declaration of the Love of God and as beautiful as it is you are the reason for it. What a mystery! God space entering our space. Perfection entering into imperfection.
May we keep our spiritual eyes open to the beauty of what God graciously shows us every day.
In Christ
John
Wandering Ragamuffin 