Forget the Mess and Love the People

The person who’s in love with their vision of community will destroy community. But the person who loves the people around them will create community everywhere they go. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

This quote is helpful to understand the context in which Bonhoeffer was writing. He was born a German who was watching his country and the Nazi party attempt to shape his homeland and the world with a particular image and vision. Bonhoeffer was able to see the danger of what happens when we put an image of what we want the world to be above the very people that live in it.

I have this art print in my house that I found in a magazine years ago. The print is of a piece of art by a paper cut artist Nikki McClure. The print is a picture of a giant pile of shoes and a pair of feet taking a pair of shoes off. The simple word “Congregate” is printed in the lower right corner. The reason I love this print is because it is a reminder to not focus on the mess of my house and all the shoes in a big pile but adjusting my priorities. Yes, I love having a house that is clean and picked up, but what I love more is having a house filled with love, laughter, and people and sometimes that means a mess. I could so easily fall in love with the idea of having clean and orderly being my vision that it would overshadow what life is all about. We are called to live in this world with other people, to love and be loved and the cost of that might just be a dirty house.

What Bonhoeffer highlights in this passage is what Jesus does for us in this world. He had the uncanny ability to remind us always what is important in this world. Even our own images of what we want can never be overshadowed by the love for those around us.

Prayer

Precious Jesus, you came to this world and taught us what is truly important. In our minds, we create images of what we want the world to be and at times forge ahead forgetting what truly matters. Thank you for the reminder of who our neighbors are and the most important virtue of love. In Jesus Name, Amen.