Open Arms-The Story of Jesus
By P. Thomas Sarlo
“Open arms in Mary’s cradle as she lifts incarnate Son the little lowly babe dependent on arms he made to rest upon. Open arms he teaches softly in the synagogue that day All about his father’s business while pondering elders walked away. Open arms upon the seashore gathering his disciples true as they listened deep in rapture to what no other man could do.
Open arms at Samaria’s well-side to a woman lost and lone He tells of water overflowing to quench her thirst and cleanse her home.
Open arms clasp in the Garden demons raging all around all alone forsaken weeping blood and sweat upon the ground, Open arms he held before us as they nailed him to the tree will you join the earthly chorus as he also welcomes thee?
Open arms in early morning as Mary gazes on him there Oh sir tell me where they laid him then hears her name—no more despair. Open arms and hands appearing Jesus Lord and Master lives Doubting Thomas bows in Worship-All that he has he freely gives. Open arms as angels welcome ascending Lord into the clouds He will return some day descending with Trumpet sound and raptured crowds.”
A sweet friend, Mr. Sarlo, recently shared this writing with me. Openness. Vulnerability. It’s kinda crazy how close to neediness openness can feel. Read the paragraph again, all these broken people could be either desperately courageous or unhinged and repulsive. The woman identified by her sin, Mary, desperate for answers and a corpse . Doubting Thomas, relatable doubt and conditional worship. Even Jesus, as a baby, as a challenger of “the way” made by men, and choosing loneliness when it accompanied physical death.
I don’t know who also needed this reminder, but openness will feel like neediness if we believe stuffing our feelings is noble. Or, when we get our character and our pride enmeshed. I need to let that sink in. There have been many times in this past year I felt needy. But God is faithful, and that’s when you discover your true friends.
Along with faithful, have you ever thought of God as being lovely? Who He is, who He is not, and how He shows Himself to us is simply beautiful. I can’t take credit for coming up with this concept, but I share it because it’s helped me. Sometimes I name God lovely. Often I have used the word negatively. And to express the general annoyances of life. Like, ‘lovely, I am flaring up in here and need to exit the building’. Or ‘lovely, I’m in the car and need to pee in a cup again because there are no mold-free buildings around. But then my mental verbiage reminds me about my lovely God. And quickly my attitude adjusts to, ‘Lovely, thank you I can decontaminate and go back to my mold free home’. ‘Lovely, thank you that You have given me all I need for my thriving life and contentment. Thank you that you have a good purpose for my life and this is part of it.’
My 2023 has been a year unexpected. Honestly more full of God in the daily life, and Him leading in ways I didn’t know He would. Presence, and awareness, leads to more Presence and awareness. This has been a fascinating theme to experience. I also named myself “the girl in the bubble” this past year. And became a huge fan of the Irish goodbye. (I’m still practicing this, and have gathered some hilarious stories in the practice. 🙂 Because as much as I want to travel and thrive like a “normal person”, God has not given that to me yet.
We all have bubbles. Some are our armor, protecting mechanisms, or biases we don’t know we have. Some are negative thought patterns and generational lenses we realize have hurt more than helped. Yet better the battles we know than the demons we don’t, right? And some bubbles are illness…..how lonely a loss of any kind can make one feel.
Yes, it’s kinda crazy how close to neediness openness can feel. But perhaps openness, with all its discomfort and pride-smashing, is when we hear God speak our true identity. God already knows when we will search for a corpse with broken hearted despair. And how lovely is it that openness leads to hearing God call our names, which leads to a vision of everlasting life.
Whatever your Christmas and New Year celebration looks like this year, I hope you do celebrate. We are loved, we are children of the God with us. And that is worth celebrating.
alisha.danae.thrive 