A blessed Easter season to you all! I am overjoyed at the beauty and impact this Holy Week and Easter has had on everyone who came to be a part of celebrating the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord.
When I came home after our Easter worship, I went into my backyard to water some of our plants. As I was watering them, I moved to one of our mint plants and I noticed something odd about one of the leaves. I looked closer and realized that two of the mint leaves had never separated from each other.
Hopefully you can see in the photo the two leaves still attached. It was surprisingly difficult to get a good picture of the leaves. I don’t know about you but as soon as I looked at the leaves and saw them it immediately looked like a heart. I was both surprised and excited when I saw this, and I had to take a picture of it.
As I thought more about this heart shaped mint leaf, I began to think about some different things that I wanted to share with you.
If I hadn’t taken the time to really look at those somewhat small leaves while I was watering my mint, I would never have noticed this leaf. I know we all have busy lives. Sometimes I think, in a way, we enjoy saying how busy we are, but in this moment, I took the time to slow down and look. When I took that time to look, I saw a heart, I saw a reminder of love. I had lots of reminders of love in worship in all the music and worship we had at Easter worship, but then in the quiet moment of my backyard I was able to see love in a small and you might even say insignificant way. Love doesn’t have to be grand and profound, sometimes the quiet, unassuming. Love can be just as important. God’s love is like that. We might not always notice it because it’s not always in giant neon signs in our lives, but it is always there for us.
The other thought I had was the fact that it took the two leaves to make the heart. Love is something that is always best when it is between more than one person. Sure, you can love yourself and that is very important, but to love another person is a completely different thing. For God to love the whole of humanity is just mind blowing. So is the fact that God sent God’s one and only son to show us that love and to welcome us into this loving and caring family of God for now and for all eternity is even harder to comprehend.
My question for you this day is this: Where do you find love? Where do you see God’s love present in your life? If you need help with those answers know that I am here for you and so is this community of faith that you are a part of.
Easter is the completion of God’s love for this world. Go and share that love with everyone you meet. Because love truly does change everything. Love changes every thing.
Blessings,
Pastor Brian
