"Beauty"

Dear WRC,

A couple weeks ago I saw something beautiful, and I want to tell you about it.

It was a Thursday, and at the end of a long day toward the end of a long week, families started to arrive in our new Family Ministry Space for dinner and some time together. The kids immediately began running around with huge smiles on their faces. The parents wore that look we have by Thursday evening of any given week. The Family Supper Clubs are new, but we’re figuring them out together. We gathered for some praise and a prayer, shared supper together, then sent the kids downstairs for their lesson and activity while we settled in around couches to talk. There weren’t a lot of us there that night, and it was slow to begin, but what happened next was holy.

The groundwork was laid, the space was carefully prepared, and then one parent after the other bravely stepped into it and spoke honestly and openly about areas in their lives in which they need God. Parenting is not easy. Being married is not easy. Being a human is not easy. But the difficulty and struggle and shame are often things we desperately try to hide, to bury down deep in an attempt never to be found out. We plaster on a smile, feign competence, and pray we hold it together until we’re at least back in the car on the way home. But not that night. That night I saw brothers and sisters be honest about the struggle, talk about the difficulty, and name the ache for God, for wholeness, for a way forward. That night they chose to be vulnerable, to be real.

And what happened next was even more beautiful. Instead of others jumping in on top of them to say, “Me, too!” and launch into their own story or jump straight to offering advice, solutions, and suggestions to “fix,” they just listened. I watched as parents just opened their hearts to each other, listened deeply and truly, and, when the time was right, prayed for one another.

There will be times for us to help each other, share resources, or offer advice, but that wasn’t it. The moment was far too holy for such things. When someone bears their soul the most practical thing you can do is to simply help them hold it and hold it before God. This is one of the great privileges that we have as the Body of Christ.

The moment was beautiful. It was a sign of God’s presence and work among us. Isn’t that what beauty, real beauty, is?

In Christ,

Pastor Andy