We are God's Creation!

“While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God's creation.” --Maya Angelou

It's been a great weekend of fun, worship, and challenges to move beyond our own hopes and to engage in God's hopes for the world.  In worship we talked about what it means to follow Jesus.  (Check out the text for the day from the Gospel of Matthew 4:12-23)  

Following isn't always how our world suggests we learn.  Although it does seem to be one of the best ways to learn.  As children we learn most things by watching and following the lead of our parents and caregivers.  Haven't you ever talked to parents who began to watch their language or realize some of their own habits when their children start to mirror their actions back to them?  When we watch others and are in relationship with them we take on some of their way of being.  So it makes sense that as we grow in relationship with Jesus we will take on his way of being.  But in many ways that is a scary prospect...how can we begin to follow one who was willing to give up his whole life for the sake of those who cried out for his Crucifixion?  What does it mean for us that Jesus was homeless?  How do we reconcile our desire for comfort and stability with the always moving ministry of Jesus as he traveled through all of Judea and sometimes even Samaria?  

I wish I had the answers...but as i read the quote from Maya Angelou I began to see that in following it isn't just a change in our walking but also in our seeing.  And while we may need to imagine what it was like for Jesus to see the people around him, I believe that he always saw first that we are all God's creations!  It does change things when we begin to see the world through eyes of love.  So maybe for me today, I can work on seeing God's creation with the love that I see when I look at those I hold most dear.  That would change a lot for me and while I am sure that I will always have to work, sometimes harder than others, to see the world through Jesus' eyes I want to try.  What might it be like for you?  

At Zacchaeus' Tree we are working to use these new eyes as we join in what God is doing to create a community where people are safe to participate and learn about God surrounded by love.  There are so many questions...let's not ask them alone!