Word for the Way: Story

“Jesus, looking at him, loved him” Mark 10:21a

My Grandmother has this great piece of needlework in her kitchen that I always love to look at, it reads, “God is watching you, but he understands.” It’s always given me comfort. The reminder that God is watching you is often given so that we’ll behave and walk the straight and narrow. There’s always a tone of judgment there. But the addition of the words “but he understands” gives a whole new meaning. God understands the struggles and the hardships; he looks at us in love, even in our less than glorious moments just as he looked on in love to the rich young man in his less than shining moment. God looks at us with love, always.

This past Sunday in my sermon I mused on how judgmental we all can be…especially us comfortable, decent, middle class types. I observed how…