Growing Edges
alexa lopezAs Opposite as it Gets
God help us.
Those I stand shoulder to shoulder with on Sunday mornings, those who worship elsewhere, any of us who declare ourselves followers of Jesus — Lord, help us.
May I never look down my nose at my brothers and sisters in Christ in one moment and testify of the goodness of the Lord to a non-believer in the next. And if I do, help me to run swiftly to make it right.
May I never become desensitized to the judgemental spirit and thereby judge others as though I am on the throne. And if I do, remind me that I have to judge myself by the same measure.
May I never treat my siblings in Christ as though their faith is less valid than mine. And if I do, help me to remember that we are individuals, not clones.
May my love for people — that love that is only possible as ones whom God loves, too — transcend my opinions about how my siblings treat me. And if it doesn’t, remind me that I am sometimes unloveable but nonetheless valuable.
May I remember that my significance does not depend on how brothers and sisters in Christ see me, but in how You, God, see me.
As Yours.
© Alexa Lopez, 2009
Reset
Time for a reset.
My attention is so divided lately that I’m forgetting one important thing:
I matter.If only within the four walls of my home, I matter. And my family gets me. And that’s good enough…or it should be.
However it is that I can forget that sometimes, I don’t know.
So I’m resetting some things, starting with my Facebook page, and I’ll see where that takes me.
Facebook reminds me how little I have in common with most of the people I know.
I’m well aware that I am an odd individual. I don’t need Facebook to remind me of that.
Here’s what matters at this very moment: My empathetic cat Prescott awoke from his usual deep sleep time to join me while I write this.
He is sitting on my notebook, purring (noteworthy because he’s not much of a purr-er) and rubbing his face on my pen. He does this — places himself in the middle of our focus — only when one of us humans in the house is sad.
I think my Lord Jesus uses my cats to get me to stop once in awhile, especially when I don’t take the time to look to Him in my sorrow.
He is telling me that life is simpler than how I see it lately.
© Alexa Lopez, 2009
