Everything

There is a little word in Colossians 1:20 and that word is "all". There are other words too, of course, but that one grabbed me - the cross, the resurrection, Jesus is for everything - heaven and earth - and that far is beyond our imagination. (I am on the English evening prayer lectionary in case you think I've lost my marbles by the way.)

Imagining that there is something which can hold the whole world and then treat it with such dignity and detail as God does is stunning and comforting all at the same time. God knows where I am, how I feel and why I feel that way. God is a God of all, a God of detail and personalities and intricacies and not just broad brush strokes.

I confess this is all highly personal at the moment sifting through latent emotions around my mother's death - but just knowing today that the God of All loves me and ALL is amazing and transforming. Realizing that the Jesus who walked in my skin wept for both friends and betrayal helps me to know that this grief is felt very deep in Gods heart. Was is Richard Baxter who said that God leads us through no darker rooms than he has been through before - I apologize if I am misquoting for once I am not going to check - perhaps it is also true than that as Jesus saved the world by coming to it in our flesh and living in it so there is no tear or joy which is not marked as eternally both human and divine.