Every Sunday I greet my congregation with these words: "Good morning beautiful people of God." It is a habit but I say it for a few reasons. 1) always greet people when you interact with them. 2) these are words that need to be heard by everyone, and often. Why these words? Let me break this greeting down for you.
"Beautiful people" - Who gets to define beauty today? Generally the media and those in the fashion industry. As a woman in the plus sized part of society, all too often I don't see the message that I'm beautiful, if anything I told exactly the opposite and that I need a lot of things to "fix" myself. In my work with youth and in particular girls, it is more clear to me than ever that being exactly the way they are is not okay and they won't be beautiful unless they have the right things to make them so. So I call everyone a beautiful person because guess what you are. We need (myself included) need to hear these words often so that we can embody the miracles of beauty that we are created to be.
"Of God" - Sounds simple enough to say in a church. We're there to worship God, to pray to God, to praise God, to petition God. We often say words about being God's. But do we remember that in all we do, say, are that we really are God's? Do our actions and words last beyond our appointed worship time so that people will know that we are faithful people just by looking at us? Are we really of God when we're driving our cars and walking through the grocery store? Do our priorities align with what we profess we believe? This is not to say that anyone is perfect about reflecting of God nature to others but we should strive to do our best; to think before we speak, act, or choose not to speak or act. One simple sentence - but for me it is a powerful one. It's a message of love, compassion and challenge that maybe belongs on a t-shirt or cross stitched on a pillow somewhere.
"Beautiful people" - Who gets to define beauty today? Generally the media and those in the fashion industry. As a woman in the plus sized part of society, all too often I don't see the message that I'm beautiful, if anything I told exactly the opposite and that I need a lot of things to "fix" myself. In my work with youth and in particular girls, it is more clear to me than ever that being exactly the way they are is not okay and they won't be beautiful unless they have the right things to make them so. So I call everyone a beautiful person because guess what you are. We need (myself included) need to hear these words often so that we can embody the miracles of beauty that we are created to be.
"Of God" - Sounds simple enough to say in a church. We're there to worship God, to pray to God, to praise God, to petition God. We often say words about being God's. But do we remember that in all we do, say, are that we really are God's? Do our actions and words last beyond our appointed worship time so that people will know that we are faithful people just by looking at us? Are we really of God when we're driving our cars and walking through the grocery store? Do our priorities align with what we profess we believe? This is not to say that anyone is perfect about reflecting of God nature to others but we should strive to do our best; to think before we speak, act, or choose not to speak or act. One simple sentence - but for me it is a powerful one. It's a message of love, compassion and challenge that maybe belongs on a t-shirt or cross stitched on a pillow somewhere.
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