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As I sit in my office at church I just noticed with fresh eyes the picture of my mother sitting on the shelf.
That picture was taken the year before she died, and it just occurred to me that I am now two years older than she was when that picture was taken!
We never know how many days we have on this earth. Some lifetimes are cut short by cancer and others last into their hundreds. We just never know… So much for the certainty that we humans crave and the desire to plan everything just so, in order to maintain “control” over how we think things should play out.
If my mother were still alive today she would probably still be doing what she did – she owned a Merle Norman Cosmetics Studio in Mount Pleasant. She loved her work with people. She loved helping women see the beauty inside of them that made the outside glow with confidence. She had a spirit of grace that accepted all persons just as they were, and took them to new possibilities.
There was a lot of Jesus in her. Jesus sees the person we are deep inside, loves us right where we are and hopes that we will grow in grace to blossom into the confident, beloved child of God that we were created to be. Jesus sees past the struggles, the old hurts and insecurities that we all inhabit, and calls us out of the past and into a future filled with possibilities.
The spirit of grace can be felt when one walks into a room. There is a peace that one can feel. People treat each other with respect and there’s a spirit of cooperation. Forgiveness is the rule of every day and love is all around.
This spirit is growing at Central. It’s in the air. It’s in conversations, in greetings, in prayer groups, in classes and worship. Not everything goes perfectly all the time. But that’s okay. If we were perfect, we wouldn’t need God’s grace! Pray for this spirit to continue to flourish as we grow our ministries, care for one another, and serve Christ together. It won’t matter how long we live. We will know we have used well each day God has gifted us, and we will have no regrets because we’ll know we loved well.
Blessings and joy to all,
Pastor Diane Gordon
