When Hearts are Heavy
“Jesus looked at him and loved him.” – Mark 10:21a
Dear Friends,
I write to you today with a heavy heart, on two very different fronts. The first is that early Thursday morning, we’ll be heading down to Florida to deliver our eldest son, Brennan, to college. For everyone who’s done this before, I truly never understood the magnitude of this event until walking through it myself. Wow. I thank each and every one of you who had even the tiniest impact on his life over the decade we have been here. In a million different ways, you helped point him to Jesus by your acts of love and compassion. Thank you, and thank you for your continued prayers for him, and for us, as we say “see you later.”
But my heart is even heavier with the loss of the esteemed Dave Garrison early yesterday morning. His story of faith and faithfulness, overcoming obstacles that would break lesser men and continuing to give and serve through his final days. He is one of the greatest inspirations we have in our church’s history. His loss, among us now, is great. Please be in prayer for Cindy and for their sons and extended family. Details about a celebration of life for him are still being worked out and we will share them as soon as they are ready.
And so today, I’d like to share with you another blessing by the late John O’Donohue – may it be an encouragement to you, as it is to me, right now.
Welcoming You to Grow in Jesus…
Pastor Don
The Eyes of Jesus
John O’Donohue
I imagine the eyes of Jesus
Were harvest brown,
The light of their gazing
Suffused with the seasons:
The shadow of winter,
The mind of spring,
The blues of summer,
And amber of harvest.
A gaze that is perfect sister
To the kindness that dwells
In his beautiful hands.
The eyes of Jesus gaze on us,
Stirring in the heart’s clay
The confidence of seasons
That never lose their way to harvest.
This gaze knows the signature
Of our heartbeat, the first glimmer
From the dawn that dreamed our minds,
The crevices where thoughts grow
Long before the longing in the bone
Sends them toward the mind’s eye,
The artistry of the emptiness
That knows to slow the hunger
Of outside things until they weave
Into the twilight side of the heart,
A gaze full of all that is still future
Looking out for us to glimpse
The jeweled light in winter stone,
Quickening the eyes that look at us
To see through to where words
Are blind to say what we would love,
Forever falling softly on our faces,
His gaze plies the soul with light,
Laying down a luminous layer
Beneath our brief and brittle days
Until the appointed dawn comes
Assured and harvest deft
To unravel the last black knot
And we are back home in the house
That we have never left.