Some blessings for when you're at your rope's end | February 2022

GREETINGS, FRIENDS!

January felt like a difficult month to get our traction around here. Perhaps you felt it too. As we enter into a new month, let's give ourselves permission to be honest about our griefs and limitations. Let these words from Scripture and the blessing from author Kate Bowler be a balm over those sore places.

Christy Yates, Associate Director

“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought." - Matthew 5:3-5, The Message

a blessing when you realize everyone is struggling - Kate Bowler

blessed are you who have realized that life is hard. and it’s hard for everyone. your awareness came at a cost. you lost something you can’t get back. you were diagnosed with chronic pain or a degenerative disease. your family fell apart and things have never been the same.

blessed are you who gave up the myth that the good life is one of happiness, success, perfection. the life that looks beautiful on Facebook, but isn’t real. you who realize it is okay to not be okay. To not have a shiny life, because no one does.

blessed are you who see things clearly, where struggle is everyone’s normal. you walk among the fellowship of the afflicted, a club no one wants to join.

and while this life isn’t shiny, it does come with superpowers. superpowers of ever-widening empathy and existential courage that get you back up after another fall

and a deepened awe at the beauty and love that can be found amid life’s rubble. like flowers that grow from the cracks in the sidewalk. these virtues blossom in you. and thank God for you.

blessed are all of us who struggle, for we are in good company, and we’ll never walk alone.

Cover image: “Be Astonished.” 48 x 60 in. Oil on canvas. Christen Yates