NEW EYES

This morning's opening prayer at Hope UMC was from a poem that I would like to share:

"New Eyes" by John van de Laar

There is so much we miss as we look through our eyes trained to see only the familiar, the expected, the safe.

Thank you, God that you don't see this way; you look at each of us, woman and man, old and young, rich and poor, and you love what you see.

Even in the shadows of our shame and separation from you, even in the cold valleys of our grief and regret, You see us -- not just as we are, but as we can be -- as you made us to be.

You see the glory and the giftedness, the possibility, the nobility and the divine likeness which you placed there.

Thank you for how you see us, God. Please give us new eyes to see ourselves and others the way you do. Amen.

"Love your neighbor as yourself" (and look at others as God sees them - with love)