theROCK

Best Friend

As you read this musing, you have a choice. You can power through or you can pause and contemplate the questions that are asked.

Take 30 seconds and write the name or names of your best friend or friends.

Who did you identify? Was it your spouse, parent, child, sibling, high school pal, neighbor?

What are their characteristics? For example, they are a great listener. Take 3-5 minutes to jot down “what makes them your best friend?” 

Do you have a good list? Many thoughts come to mind. They are the first person you want to speak to in the morning; the last before you go to bed. They listen, hear, and understand. They know you sometimes better than you know yourself. They want the best for you. They celebrate your joys and accomplishments. They console and support during your challenges, struggles, and times of sorrow. They pick you up when you are down. They encourage you to be the best “you.” 

It is sometimes easy to take them for granted. You miss them and they miss you when you haven’t spoken, but you call them and pick up right where you left off.

They are honest, trusting, caring, have your back, walk by your side. They know your faults. They accept you even when you are at your worst; support you even when they don’t agree. They won’t let you fall too hard. You can and do share everything with them. They know your deepest secrets and they know what you want and need even before you do. You disappoint them, sometimes repeatedly, and they forgive you. Simply put, they love you, unconditionally.

Look at your list and the one above. The best friend you identified may have many of those characteristics.

There is One, who has all of these and more. There is One who loves you always. The One is Jesus.

Perhaps you speak to Him every day or perhaps it has been a while. Talk with your real best friend today. Talk with Him. Really talk with Him. Go past asking for what you think you need. Tell Him about your day, your tomorrow, your struggles, fears and faults, your joys, accomplishments, and aspirations. Thank Him for everything you have. Oh, and don’t forget to listen.

He has a birthday in a few weeks. He has already given us the best present we will ever receive. He gives Himself to us every minute of every day. He gives us His unconditional Love. He gives us the opportunity to live eternally in His kingdom. 

He only wants one gift in return. He wants us, unworthy as we are. He wants us. He wants YOU.

The Holy Name of Jesus

Jesus.

Jesus.

Jesus.

The act of saying Jesus’s name is a prayer in and of itself. This simple prayer brings Him directly to you. An intentional disciple is conscious of the power of saying Jesus’s name. Invoking the Most Holy Name of Jesus is not something to be done lightly or irreverently, but unfortunately, it happens all the time. When you catch yourself invoking His Most Holy Name, take it as a prayer opportunity.   Do you really want Jesus there? Do you really need Jesus there? Probably yes, as many will shout out His name in anger or frustration. Changing this habit of absentmindedly shouting out His name to an act of humility will require awareness and discipline, for prayer is a discipline. Disciple is part of the word discipline. Turn your focus back to God by simply being more aware of your words and the power they carry, especially in the Holy Name of Jesus.

There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved. – Acts 4:12 (New American Bible, revised edition, 2011)

Unique Images of God

I have spent much of the late summer fascinated by the images coming from NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope. For many science-y reasons I can’t explain, it is a groundbreaking telescope able to capture images of space previously unobservable to us. The clarity and definition of the images are breathtaking. The photos look like paintings. They are artwork. God’s artwork painted in the universe.

I have spent a great deal of time viewing the images and marveling at the wonders they reveal. And always, this marveling has led me to praise of God. Marveling at the Creator of all these wonders. To think that our God created all of that. To think how beautiful, how expansive, how immense the universe, and our God created it all. Oh, what a God we have!

In the midst of this praise and wonder, there is always a soft echo in my heart: “And even with all these wonders, I still thought it necessary to create you, my dear Claire.” “Even with all these wonders, my creation would not have been complete without you to love and cherish.” 

Oh what a God we have! To have created the entire expanse of the universe, an expanse infinite in its depths, and still deem it incomplete without me. To create planets and solar systems and entire galaxies and nebulae and still think little ol’ me, in all my flaws and weaknesses and imperfections, was necessary, was desirable, was lovable. To think, God’s creation wasn’t complete without me.

You were necessary. You were desired. The created world was incomplete to God without you in it.

This is true of me.
This is true of you.
This is true of every single person on this earth.

From the baby in a mother’s womb, to the homeless person wandering the street, to the incarcerated, to the politically or religiously opposite, to the President, to the toddler coloring all over your home, to the difficult person at work, to the person who cut you off in the drop-off line, to the person slowly taking their last breath. Creation was incomplete without every one of these people.

Unique images of God, as diverse and unique as the stars in the universe, every one of them.

May we marvel at the necessity and desirability of ourselves. May we wonder at the necessity and desirability of every person we encounter. Truly we are each a greater marvel than the entire expanse of the universe.