Even the hairs on your head

Luke 12:4-12

           There have been several times in my life when I have faced traumatic or life threatening events. Not counting accidents when my life flashed before me, there are two events that stand out. One is when I came out at the ripe age of 50. I had a well established life and family, a wife, children, I was an ordained minister of the Roman church. Part of the trauma was even the mere thought that I was gay. That thought and the increasing possibility and awareness seeping from my subconscious was wreaking havoc on me. No matter what choice I made I knew I would be in trouble so to speak. It seemed like a lose lose situation. In the end, with good therapy and the knowledge that God loved me, I was able to move forward with positive and life giving decisions. One thing I realized at that time was what is truly important. I often joke that I left my wife with nothing more than a Scrabble board and an Armoire of clothes.  I realized then that not even those are things are what is truly important. 

           Another more recent event was the discovery of a particularly nastily placed aneurysm on my aorta. Ripening with each passing day and at the point where it required attention, I became keenly aware that I could meet my maker at any moment. Even with the surgery, scheduled for 8 hours with the most skilled of surgeons in a major university setting, I could be meeting my maker. It makes one, again, realize what is truly important. You are not so gently reminded how fragile life is and what is really counts in life.

           In today's passage I am reminded of all of this. It is amazing what we fear, the silliest of things really. Most things, while perhaps truly practical in this world are of minimal importance in the grand schema of things. 

           What really counts is love in it's broadest terms. Did I love? Do I love? Am I loved? The resounding answer to that last question is yes, even the hairs on your head.  God so loves each one of us, each of us so purpose built so to speak.  A person who nurtures and cuts a Bonsai does so with extreme patience, each cut meticulous, specially designed, planned and executed.  Each one of us was conceived by God, specially designed, planned and executed. Our existence and who we are is no accident, it is crucial to God's plan. 

             

‘I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

‘And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.’