Lent 2022, day 4


From the commentary in today’s BiOY: 

Holiness is not a matter of outward appearance. It is a matter of the heart.

It’s hardly worth the time it takes to write these words to point out that we are a culture obsessed with outward appearance. Younger, fitter, more beautiful, more filtered, better-pedigreed. Holiness, kindness, wisdom, generosity … these traits are not widely looked for or valued. Understatement. 


Libby is a street-dog yellow … street dog. She is soulful and cute but she will win no beauty pageants. She would not even be allowed to compete in a proper dog show.  Her heart, on the other hand, is gorgeous. She loooooves me. She looooves our family. But even she of the generous heart is concerned with outward appearance, taking an immediate dislike to tall men with dark hair. And by “dislike,” I mean “spiky sharp hatred.” We assume it has to do with her early life, and we are working on helping her, but the current reality is that she makes snap (ha) judgments based on appearance. And you know what?  So do I. So do we all. We are not God, who first sees the heart, but maybe we can aspire to be like God in this way.  Might be a worthy Lenten exercise: what do I see first?  Who do I see first?  Can I resist the impulse to bark based on first impressions?  


#lent2022 #repentandbelieve #rescuedogsofinstagram #libby #bibleinoneyear

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