Writings of a Beholder 🌿
Bearing our broken hearts in community and some other resources for your weekend
Weekly writings of a beholder 🌿
Our stories are what connect us
I’m convinced that community is one of God’s greatest gifts to us on this side of heaven, which is why my heart felt so full last night after spending a few hours talking with an old friend. She sipped her coffee, me my Chai Tea Latte, and we listened to the unfolding of each other’s lives over the past 5 years since we last saw each other.
I’ve been watching The Chosen lately, a historical drama series about the life of Jesus; His ministry, His relationships with His disciples, and the way He lived life on earth and related to people as the Messiah. It’s an incredibly powerful show, and I would encourage you to watch it if you haven’t already!
A few nights ago as I watched yet another episode, the man who plays Jesus said this simple but powerful statement to someone he was in conversation with,
"Our stories are what connect us."
Truthfully, I haven’t always viewed community as a gift or believed in its value wholeheartedly. I’ve allowed my fear of not being enough for people and my own insecurities and past wounds to settle into my soul like a slow rot, rather than believing the truth that I was never created to be enough for the person sitting across from me because Jesus already is.
Rather than believing the truth that even though people wound and words hurt, Love is worth the risk of my own battered heart.
I’ve allowed these lies at times to keep me from loving others, building my walls rather than choosing to bear my heart with the broken.
But Jesus calls me, and all of us, to a different way of life. He invites us into community not only to love on others and be a blessing but to refine our own hearts; to make us look and speak and think more like Him and less like our sometimes selfish selves.
Growth and transformation are at the heart of community, among other life-giving things.
As my friend and I sat across from each other, sipping coffee and sharing our stories, there was a sense of connection and belonging that gradually started to form between us. As we shared our experiences, our hurts, our real-life stories, the presence of Love settled between us crowding out the fear and insecurity.
Because when Love takes His place at the table, there’s no room for worry or selfishness. Only peace and communion and the invitation to show up as your truest, most open self.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 echoes the heart of God behind community, showing us the truth that when we bear our broken hearts to one another, a sort of strength begins to form between and within us.
"Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."In this season of my life, there’s been a slow opening happening within me. Like a door that’s been rusted shut for years, creaking and groaning when tugged open.
Like a coming Home to God and my God-given Belovedness which has enlarged my heart for God’s people. This homecoming has begun healing some of those old wounds and insecurities. And now when I feel them creep up, I kindly acknowledge them, but don’t give them the final say.
I remind myself that being human is awkward for everyone and that everyone belongs because we’re all Beloved.
And that loving people in spite of the awkwardness and insecurities bring us closer to the Love of God. It brings us closer to our truest selves and to each other.
I think we behold more of God, lean more heavily into Him, the more we serve, listen, and love. The Love we receive is the Love we give, and it’s true that we can’t share our stories that so deeply connect us if we’re not willing to share and receive that Love.
May these words gently remind us all today that no matter how awkward or rusty entering into community might feel, we glimpse heaven and the heart of God when we choose to do it anyway.
A breath prayer for your weekend
breathe in:
A cord of three strands.
breathe out:
Is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:12)*if you’d like to learn more about the practice of breath prayer, check out this blog post I wrote titled, How to Use Breath Prayer.
Resources & fun things to pick up
There are lots of fun new things available for purchase on my Etsy shop! My new Advent eBook, Be Still & Know, is available for purchase and so are some small handheld crosses, and Advent-themed breath prayer cards: The Beholding Co.
I really enjoyed this article by Sarah K. Butterfield on how to focus on God amidst the ordinary: How To Focus Your Mind To Do the Will of God Even in the Ordinary
Writer, Sarah E. Westfall, hosts an Instagram challenge every November called Liturgy of the Little Things where each day you pause to pay attention to the little beauties and God-winks in your life and then write about them and post it on IG if you’d like. Even if you don’t have Instagram, it might still be fun and good for the soul to give it a try: Liturgy of the Little Things
Grab a copy of my Bible study, You Are Beloved: a 21-day study on how to root your identity in the love of God, over on Amazon.
An invitation to pause & reflect
A regular practice of reflection helps us recognize what’s going on beneath the surface of our souls so that we can name it in the Lord’s presence. Because as we learn to name what we feel, what we need, and what we long for, we’re also learning to discern the Spirit’s sweet, gentle voice within our hearts and lives.
Take a few moments today or this weekend to journal or contemplate with the Holy Spirit the following question(s):
In what way(s) do you feel God inviting you into community in this season of your life? What might be keeping you from accepting that invitation?
xo,
celia
