Who is Great?
Matthew 18.
In the moments of clarity between the clouds of sickness, i have been thinking a lot about what it means to be great.
This has been a conversation on my heart for a while now. Last weekend, a friend and I spent a late night talking about how we celebrate people’s failures because it makes us feel better about ourselves.
Because we have this idea that there can only be a few who are great.
And then I studied Matthew 18 in Bible Study this week, where the disciples ask Jesus what it takes to be the greatest.
I worked through my questions. I listened to my leader talk about this word “great” as God sees it and as the world sees it.
This thinking has worked its way through me this weekend. and it is serving as a filter for all of the other muck i hear and experience.
And it comes to this sad truth. Jesus said it. My leader, Carla, said it. My friend and i said it last week.
The world loves to see people taken down.
We don’t rejoice in another’s success, because somehow we feel there will be less “great” leftover for us. When someone succeeds, we sit back, watch and wait…for them to fail. Or fall. Or both.
Why do we do this? Why don’t we long to see each other lifted up? Why are our hearts so dark? As dark as my head stuffed with the cold that threatens to explode it at any moment?
And in the midst of it…hearing different people tell their stories of being stomped on by the world or by a trusted other, a song has filled my heart.
This morning, Simon and I sat with our sick selves on my yoga mat this morning, praying as we listened to this song over and over. (i think he was praying. 🙂
Broken but singing
My life is shining
Broken but singing
My life is shining.
The song is called Walk the World by Charlie Hall.
it’s about shining the love of jesus in the world.
Which is great.
A different kind of great.
Great in God’s economy. because God chose the lowly, the despised, the weak things of this world.
And that’s what I am.
Who is great?
Those of us who are broken and need lifting up.
I prayed today for myself and all the people I know who need it, that though we are broken, that we would still be singing and shining. and for that alone, we are great.
And there’s no shortage of room in the world for this kind of great.
i love the way music can speak to you. i’m going to look for that song.
oooh girl…you know i was saying those words at yoga this morning when we were in that screaming pigeon with one hand lifted to the sky…
broken but singing
This really touched me today for some reason. I think it’s a powerful and humbling thought. This is something that I struggle with as well. The truth is someone else’s sucess or happiness doesn’t mean I will be due less of it. There’s not a finite amount of joy in the world. He has enough set aside for each of us.
By the way I stumbled across your blog the other week and now I find myself reading it daily. Thank you