With my traveling, I haven’t been able to go to church. Sure, I found ways to honor my faith and spent the last Sunday driving while listening to my faith’s General Conference. As I drove by that perfect little scene with the sun hitting the water, the sheep grazing as if they were posed, I thanked God for the beauty and diversity of this world.

 

But, it’s a big but here, as much as spiritual-seeking is rewarding and soul-filling, I need weekly church. I have enough ADD that sitting quietly is really hard for me and my body anxious having to be still enough to not be a distraction to those around me. And sometimes, ok… a lot of times my mind wanders.

 

That’s exactly why I get dressed up on Sunday. Not because I want everyone to look at me and think “Dang, Leta has it all together.” Or because I wanna look hot. I get dressed up because I’m trying to put my best before God. To show God that I bring the very best I can do, sit with others that are also doing the best they can do, and yet all of us are imperfect.

 

Every single one of us has failed and fallen. The real reason for regular worship is knowing my very best isn’t enough and that with God I am made more. Every single one of us trip, fall, fail and even run full throttle into poopy.

 

It is in failing a million times that spiritual success happens. Really, life is a series of disappointments, hurts, and losses that when you add them up you can see hopelessness or you can find the hand of God molding you into a better you. Darkness and despair WILL happen. In fact it’s the 💩ist of lies to believe that we’re not meant to hurt.

 

Each time we receive God’s light into our cut and jagged places, it’s like we become a prism in which God can expand us. Like those chandelier pieces I saw in bowls for sale in the antique shops, I could have taken one home, hung it in my window, and seen amazing dances of light as it hung there alone. But when you take those same pieces and put them together, they become a masterpiece of light.

 

I can shine alone and be brilliant, radiant, but add LoverMan’s received light and we’re able to dazzle. Add us to a community that is looking to the light as well, we become breathtakingly beautiful – enhancing not only our own light but adding to the greater whole, and reflecting heaven’s loving light. Yet, each piece is flawed, but it’s the light maker that places us just where we’ll shine the best ✨✨✨✨

 

We, humans, need community. Church isn’t to blind us to our faults, it’s meant to expose them open to God’s redemption.

 
 

#imperfection #faith #redemption #community