Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home." He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.
Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. (Mark 6:4-6 NIV)
The small town mentality is often one of believing that nothing of great significance could happen there. The people of Nazereth couldn't believe that Mary's boy could grow up to heal the sick and work other miracles, and so they could not receive them.
We seldom think to look around our own communities when looking for miracles to provide social, economic and educational improvements to our lives. We think these "miracles" have to come from some political "wunderkind" from... well... anywhere but here. We look to state and federal government to solve our problems and fail to trust the people from our own communites... that know our problems first hand... to solve them. If we refuse to believe it, it will never happen.
The same with our church communities... God couldn't be doing exciting, world-changing work through the people who attend our little church each and every week, could He? If we refuse to believe it, it just won't happen.
We need to open our hearts to the real possibility that God can use any of us at any time. If the little girl we watched grow up in our church comes home with some strange ideas, maybe we should listen. Maybe God is working through her to bring change and growth and healing.
Every small town and every little neighborhood church has the capacity for greatness... but only if we are willing to accept change and growth... and only if we believe that it can even come from our own.
Father,
Open our hearts to the new ideas that you often send through people we would least expect to hear them from. Amen.
Joys: a fun couple of days with Cecelia; cooler weather this morning; a girls' night out tonight
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