You Are Beautiful To Me

I feel incredibly grateful this morning for so many amazing people I have been privileged to cross paths with along the way.  The reasons you are precious to me and have impacted my life spans the gamut of the seasons, the emotions, the valleys and the high places, and the learning I have needed.  There have been countless gifts of one or another of you being there precisely when the perfectly fitting need arrived or step was to be taken.  And you were the hands and feet and mouth that was used to deliver the blessing or offer a hand. 

It has been your zest for life, your quiet consideration, your old grayed heads that were continuing to walk forward trusting and determined that have spoken volumes to me.  It has been men and women, youth, and children whose unique delight in something, or whose laughter became the water of my day.  I was fed and nourished by watching you.  It has been those who have held fast to truths, even when… no, especially when the cost was great, who dared to courageously say “no” when the situation warranted that answer as the right one.  It has been the many times when I have seen generosity offered liberally when a heart was hurting or a need dire, even if it seemed to be only a drop in the bucket that couldn’t fix everything. 

I am grateful for leaders who, though their schedules were cramped, took the time to listen and care, who heard a struggle that I was wrestling with and gathered me and my mess or my concern under their wing and helped to get things sorted out.  It wasn’t their job to solve it, and most of the time they didn’t, but in those precious troubled moments, I knew I wasn’t alone.  I am also grateful for the many students whose lives I have gotten to share on a daily basis through the years and the many times that just being eye to eye in the hallway and having a few quick words reminded me of how big the picture is and how much is going on that we can be tiny parts of in each others lives.  Thank you for sharing yourselves with me in those conversations.

I feel overwhelmed this morning for the gifts that you all are.  Sometimes a person was present for just one single moment in time, others criss-crossing my life in a regular rhythm.  You have been family, friend, acquaintance, or stranger.  All have been provision and blessing. 

What strikes me in all of this is the diversity of who you all are.  It is a dazzling array of small gifts sprinkled all over the planet.   Each precious one of you has been sorting through your own life, yet leaning in to express what has been deposited in you.  Your willingness to be stretched for someone else has allowed a thinning of the fabric of who you are, but it has not lessened you.  I suspect that though sometimes you felt as though you were being pulled too far, you let the process happen to the degree that His light has been able to shine through the threads of you.  I just want you to know that you are stunning.