The Miracles of Everyday
It was a typical Sunday afternoon when God decided He would undo the pain of past trauma through the means of someone I hardly knew.
I was in a Zoom meeting for my church on a call with my mentor and the person we were helping move through the membership process. Everything was going on as planned, great conversations were had, questions were answered, so on and so forth. After the teaching video had ended, we went through concerns or areas of conversation that needed to be discussed to gain clarity.
In it were confessions of certain preferences and things they weren’t accustomed to because they came from a different way of worshiping, and even a different generation that had different priorities when it came to the way and style of worship. Yet the constant after every sentence spoken was that they were “sticking with it.” They loved the church, loved the people, and had no desire to leave because she truly did love the church even when some of the things weren’t to their liking.
Somewhere along the conversation, the person started talking about her childhood and some of her upbringing. How there were only two African Americans to go to her school with her, how the churches she grew up in were primarily people of Anglo descent. As a Black and Salvadoran man, my ears started to perk up. The words she was speaking weren’t to make me or my mentor feel bad or wrong for being a minority, they were words of explanation of trying to become accustomed to a new way of being. The longer she spoke, she apologized and profusely told us that she had meant no harm.
You know that feeling you get in your throat when you’re about to cry that makes it hard to speak? That began to happen to me and to the person on the other end of the call– and it was beautiful. The more she spoke, the more her love for God became apparent. It was both the beauty of her vulnerability and the distant memory of pain that was all too present several months ago. Where someone that was around this person's age, the same gender, had used words that degraded my humanity and wounded my soul. Yet in this moment with the person from my church, it was a complete reversal. She was loving, caring, and cherished the diversity around her. It was a whirlwind of emotions between grieving the past, embracing the present, and hesitantly hopeful for the future.
I always knew that the story God was writing was something I was a part of, but in this moment it actually became real for me. God allowed the story of my life to turn to and fro in different directions. God was weaving together beautiful moments I thought I had dealt with and processed, yet in a single moment, brought about seamlessly by a stranger, God had begun a work in my heart that would lead me closer to His. All the pain, tears, moments of doubt, were all gifts of grace reminding me that God had a purpose in it all: to show that He is present in all things, good in all things, and redeems all things.
WHO DO YOU TRUST?
While this story has a nice redeeming quality to it, the reality is that this isn’t the case most of the time. Most of the time, words are left unsaid, promises are left broken, and you're left with just the sting of reality and no possibility to make some type of amends. But what will you do? Will you start to become resentful or distrustful of God? Will you begin to only trust God if things go the way you think they will? Some of these things are bound to happen simply because we’re human. But the resolve of your life doesn’t have to change. To be a person who’s inward reality of trust in God shines forth in the tough times is the hope for all who trust in Christ. We don’t just desire to know the right things, we are a people who live out what we believe to be true. But this path must be first won in the mind before it is lived out through the body.
SETTING THE MIND ON GOD
We all treat others based on the view we have of God. When we sin, and we think of the response God has towards us, is it one of a benevolent Father disciplining His child towards a better way? Or is it the pervasive thought that God is annoyed with us because we just can’t seem to do anything right in His eyes? One thought brings joy, the other pain. When a friend or loved one comes to us and confesses a wrongdoing or sinful act against us, odds are we are going to treat them the same way we think God would treat us. The way we treat others will rise or fall depending on how rightly we see God.
Bringing to mind that God is good, beautiful, holy, lovely, and just in all things are the things we must remember so that we would see God well and treat others as though they bore the image of God. A trip through the Gospels will easily give us a glimpse of Jesus' life showing what it means to live a life that was sinless, perfect, and loving at every step of His life.
DAILY RELIANCE
The great thing about miraculous or sudden events happening is that they’re few and far between. When they happen, they capture a moment like nothing else can. The problem is they’re not reliable as a means to have long term growth in God. The character we want and long for will happen through faithful obedience over years of adoring God and practicing His way of life, rather than through a miracle. It’s in the average and ordinary moments of life that you and I turn to God daily as our source of life.
PRAYER
God, may we remember you in all things. Help us to remember that you’re good and withhold no good things from your children because you are a Father who is kind and compassionate. May we enjoy and savor the ordinary and mundane moments of life just as much as the miraculous, because both are divine gifts given by the God of all creation. God, thank you for loving us well, creating us and knitting our uniqueness to reflect more of who you are, and showing yourself to be trustworthy above all else. In your name we pray, Amen.