Count the stars b-sides | 22 february 2016
"[God] brought [Abram] outside and said, 'Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.' Then he said to him, 'So shall your descendants be.' And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness." Genesis 15:5-6
Maybe us ordinary folk should attempt to witness the extraordinary more often. When was the last time you counted the stars? Go head, count the stars, that's the number of times God is going to forgive you for being so ordinary. Go head, count the stars, that's the number of times God is willing to bring make life out of the most barren parts of your story. Go head, count the stars, that's the number of times God wept when you used God's name to judge, exclude, and deny grace for one of God's children. Go head, count the stars, that's the number of times God is willing to say, as ordinary as you are, I love you.
Listen
Reflect
1. Where do you go to recognize the vastness of the world?
2. God chooses each of us in spite of our being ordinary; in what ways do you recognize yourself as ordinary?
3. When have you demonstrated an extraordinary faith?
Quick, God, remind us where we came from. Quick, God, remind us to whom we belong. Give us faith, that we would keep on believing, that we would keep looking up, acknowledging your vast universe and our very small, ordinary, but cherished place in it. In illness, in loneliness, remind us that the extraordinary is within our grasp, thanks to your love and your grace. Through our Lord, Jesus Christ, we pray, Amen.
