A Worthy Pattern
“For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done for you.”
The sweetest smell of blueberry muffins whirled down the long hallway spilling into the bedroom where I was sleeping. This welcoming aroma was an irresistible invitation that swiftly rounded me up and onto my feet.
I headed straight for my Grandmothers kitchen. I knew that I would find her there, quietly preparing breakfast. It was this kind of predictability that consistently nurtured a fortified sense of security in my young heart.
My Grandmother had a certain pattern to her life, little things that she did every day that spoke to what she cared about the most. The time that she spent in the kitchen preparing meals for her family was one of them.
As I would spend time with her, I would enter into the pattern of her life, embracing the invitation to be a part of what she was doing. This practice naturally shaped certain habits in me.
Good habits, like servant hood and hospitality.
As a young child, I remember watching her serve her family with such sturdy admiration. The love that filled that small space, stocked with staple ingredients and tested recipes, inevitably poured out into the larger environment of her home and it was made plain to me that the simple act of cooking a meal repeatedly encouraged a positive result.
This is the beauty of relationship and the importance of living our lives with integrity and passion. Her life was clear and easy to follow, and because of that, my Grandmother was one of my earliest teachers.
Today, as a mother of two boys, I know that it is through the daily dabbling of everyday living that my children are learning important things about life.
By the work of my hands and the ways of my feet, they are watching for patterns to emerge that help them make sense of this world. What is woven in love will be kept, because love unfailingly pours out into the world around us for good.
In an even more miraculous way, I am invited daily into relationship with Jesus Christ, the final, enduring and truest pattern of life itself. His love and faithfulness towards me saturates the threads of my daily choices making my life worthy to follow.
“Therefore become imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father]; and walk continually in love [that is, value one another - practice empathy and compassion, unselfishly seeking the best for others], just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God [slain for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance.”
He invites us again and again to become an encouragement to those who are hurting, mourning, learning and battling.
He invites us to imitate His life by the power of His Spirit through the knowledge of His Amazing Grace in the most tangible ways. Simple acts like cooking a meal or consistently “showing up” in peoples’ lives.
The Truth of His love and the clear way of His example, builds strength within us and keeps us encouraged through the ever present struggles that we will surely face in this world.
And the worthy patterns found in the people who have been intentionally placed in front of us are a gift to help us navigate our way through this life.
People like my precious Grandmother.