Bring Yourself and That’s Enough

With what shall I come before the Lord? // Micah 6:6

We rescued the statue from the clearance pile, Jesus and His Sacred Heart tossed among the concrete turtles and squirrels, marked down to $17. We didn’t quite know where to put it at first . . . the statue of Jesus wasn’t as tall as our statue of Mary, and it looked funny having short Jesus next to tall Mary. We tried placing it next to the Little Free Library in our front yard, but then it looked like we had a kiosk for Catholic pamphlets in the middle of the neighborhood. So, we set it next to the crepe myrtle tree with every intention of moving it within a few days.

But then the eighteen-month-old found it, and every afternoon while we piddled in the front yard with bikes and watering flowers, Clare would toddle over to “shorter-than-His-mom Jesus” and sit down and start talking. Just toddler babble, though we could make out “bubbles” and “hello” and “yes,” so clearly she was telling Him important things.

She approached Him with empty hands and a mouth full of words, not carrying flowers or burnt offerings or thousands of rams—she just brought herself and sat down in front of “not-very-tall Jesus” and talked to Him.

I wish I could do the same.

We so often complicate how we approach the Lord. We ask Him if we need to bring all this stuff, all these projects, these tasks we’ve accomplished, these offerings we think we must make to win His approval and affection. The Prophet Micah laments about it in today’s reading and then reminds us of what the Lord wants most of all: just you and me and our hearts.

He wants us to walk with Him, to do good and to love Him above all else, and to even just sit down with Him, even in the front yard, in what might seem like not the right spot, and share the simple things that race through our head and tug at our heart.

With what shall we come before the Lord? (Micah 6:6)

Just ourselves. That’s all. And that’s enough.

Bring Yourself and That’s Enough. // @katiepmcgradyClick to tweet

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