Dear Rose Park,
Last week Saturday, Simon and I went to a prayer walk at Jefferson Elementary. My friend Tim Laird hosted the prayer walk and invited me to join. After going for a run with a friend, I quick showered woke up Simon, and loaded Rudy into the car in order to drive over to Jefferson on the south side of town. The whole prayer walk only took about fifteen minutes; we walked around the school and prayed for the students, teachers, administrators, and family and community members. It was a beautiful morning and something I’ll never forget.
After the walk ended, Simon said he wanted to walk around the school one more time. We all needed to stretch our legs a little more, so we started a second lap. As we walked, Simon said to me, “Hey Dad, sometimes I pray at school.” As a pastor and parent, my ears perked up. I asked him, “what do you pray about?” He thought for a second with a furrowed brow and then said, “sometimes I ask him for my ouchies to go away, but most of the time I just tell God I love Him.”
Most of the time I just tell God I love Him. Suddenly, on the campus of Jefferson elementary someone was cutting onions because I kept having to wipe my eyes as we continued on our second loop. I have to imagine that God delights in hearing His children declare their love for Him. However, I also imagine that God delights perhaps even more in telling His children how much He loves them.
The Gospel of Mark begins with John the Baptist declaring the way of the Lord. It then immediately transitions to Jesus’ baptism; as Jesus comes up from the waters, a voice from heaven declares, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). It is out of the Father’s love for His Son that Jesus begins His ministry. In a similar way, it is out of God’s tremendous love for you that we can minister and serve those around us faithfully.
Any kind of service or ministry that does not come out of our shared belovedness of God will eventually lead to a selfish or shallow kind of ministry. However, when we ground ourselves in God’s love for us, His delight in us, His pleasure in us we can then serve and love freely without defensiveness or ego in order to be drawn closer to each other as we’re drawn closer to Him.
As you continue in this week, might you rest and find comfort in the foundational truth that God deeply loves you. You are His daughter and son and with you, He is well pleased.
Grace & Peace,
