01-07-20

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS

January 7, 2020

Scripture: 1 Timothy 4:4

Everything that has been created by God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected.

Thought for the Day: Let me do some fun confessing in this devotional. I know that “confessing” and “fun” are not words usually put alongside one another. On Sunday, I was wearing a new casual sports coat that I got on a really good deal. Like most sports coats that I buy, I had to have the sleeves shortened. What I didn’t realize was that my alteration person did not remove the Vent X. That’s the very obvious string they use to keep the vent (the split just above your butt) straight during shipping. In the 45 years I have been wearing suits, I have never left it in. The alterations person almost always removes it, but if not, I see it and remove it. But not this time. I share that because I had my oops very kindly pointed out to me during the soup luncheon after worship on Sunday. My first reaction was embarrassment, but I had been rolling this verse of scripture around in my head for a week, and in that moment I laughed and took his words with thanksgiving. How many times have we watched someone with a clothing faux pas and never said a word. It’s usually your family who will speak the truth to you, and with thanksgiving, that’s how I took those words. I truly was thankful, for I was among family… the people who, in love, will speak the truth.

Prayer: I give you thanks, Merciful God, for the people who see my flaws and mistakes and love me, not in spite of my many imperfections, but just as I am. For each of us is such a mix-up mess of all kinds of good and less than good parts, and separating it all is rather complicated. Thanks for loving me in the complicated work of learning to love myself. Amen.

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