Judging by appearances?

 

He shall not judge by what his eyes see, •
or decide by what his ears hear,

But with righteousness he shall judge the poor, •
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. (Isaiah 11)

I cannot tell you how many times I have read these words from Isaiah during the course of Evening Prayer - they turn up all the time, of course. But today I noticed them

That is the way our liturgy is meant to work. We mumble on through it, often vaguely paying attention to most of it, pulling ourselves back to the words when we wander, and then God seems to suddenly shine through, shout through, amazingly, wonderfully.

You are so important to me, God said. So important.

My daughter posted this rather unflattering picture of me on Facebook yesterday with the caption I love my Mom. It was on my account so I could have deleted it. However, if you have teenage children you know you will probably suffer the photo to keep the caption, just in case it is a while before the next one shows up - just in case.

My point is that the love is there, no matter how it looks. My daughter is not judging me by appearances and God definitely is not either. I was glad to be reminded of  that this evening - God loves me, no matter what.