The Writing Garden: Rebecca St. James, for KING + COUNTRY

1 Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Psalm 91

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.

"An imperfect something is better than a perfect nothing. Don't wait for that perfect day, for that perfect work of art you will someday create. Dare to create knowing that you are imperfect, and that what you do will probably be imperfect too. Perfection isn't the aim. Creating something that didn't exist before is. We live in an age where we worship perfection, and shun, real organic thought. We Photoshop the heck out of reality, so nothing we see is real. We are so used to seeing this alternate reality---this unattainable perfection in every degree of life, that we are repulsed by our own "real" selves, and are inability to achieve perfection.

Don't let this way of thinking destroy the good you can do.
Don't let it belittle the wonderful person you are.
Don't let these false images destroy your own uniqueness.
Dare to try, dare to believe in your dreams, dare to be real, dare to create. Be brave. Say this to yourself when you feel inadequate, imperfect, and human. What you have to offer is real. That is what matters."---Stephanie Skeem

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Wednesday, June 12, 2024

Rebecca St. James, for KING + COUNTRY | You Make Everything Beautiful (O...

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