“Take Heart!”

Term is busy, life is busy, and my mind was a little all over the place this morning. I’ve been holding onto John 16:33 to steady myself:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

I also went and found a computer file I have called ‘Little Droplets of Heaven‘. I can’t remember where it was that I first came across these words. The file I have on my computer dates back to 2012, and I know that I first read this passage before that point. It has been on my bedroom wall for a long time now, and I remember sticking it to the inside of my planner back in school. Something about these words never fails to make a sense of calm wash over me, it always manages to deposit me in a place of thankfulness and gives me an assurance and hope which I know from Hebrews 11:1 is what faith is. It is best read slowly.

Reminders of the God glimmer like tiny sequins against the canvas of our ordinary lives. When we stop rushing around and look around us, we are sure to see that the kingdom of God is closer than we think.

In the gift of friendship; the way that a damp and forgotten house becomes a home, with friends entering and leaving daily, bringing with them stories of days that went well and ones that didn’t. In the way God equips us to get alongside one another; sharing fears and hopes and prayers, sometimes weeping, sometimes laughing. In shared meals, hot chocolates, cakes and cups of tea, where each conversation has the potential to reveal a little bit more of a friend’s soul. In the patient way, we are comforted by those who do not mind if we are tired or anxious or scared or irrationally grumpy.

It is through these things that we begin to realise that we do not need to be sorted or have it all figured out.

But instead that it is ok to be broken, to be tired and to be weak.

For there is beauty in imperfection. In our rough edges and our tired minds.

For, as it is written, your grace is sufficient and your power is made perfect in our weakness.

In this we learn that those parts of ourselves we would rather hideaway are instead of great worth. It is in our moments of brokenness and confusion, when we are too tired to get up and do it all over again that we fully realise and begin to accept our need for you. And as we come to you, offering ourselves like the weeping woman with the jar of perfume, we realise that we can use our broken messiness and vulnerability as part of our worship to you.

That you are a God of restoration, who transforms ashes into beauty; and uses these messy parts of us as precious threads in the rich and ever-expanding tapestry of our lives.

So Lord, when I am feeling overwhelmed by the weight of life, responsibilities, work, and situations, I pray that I would not to ignore the little droplets of heaven that surround me. I pray I wouldn’t walk by without noticing the beauty that surrounds me even on the most familiar pathways. Lord please help to lift my eyes above my everyday and see these pearls, these little glimmers of beauty and hope.

Signs that there is something beyond what I can see.