A NOTE FROM ALINE BAHAMONDEZ
Hanging in my office is one of my favorite art pieces by an artist named David Hale. The colors remind me of warm clay, dry moss, and a contrasting act of white and black. It’s titled “On Her Way.” At first glance, the focal point seems to be a small hare running with purpose and direction.
When I look at this piece, I see myself in her. I long to run with purpose and direction. I long to stay attuned to the Holy Spirit’s guidance, but sometimes life is too gritty, too unpredictable, too inconsistent, too wounding for me to stay in perfect communion with God in such a way that my pace doesn’t slack. So I work harder by living into the lie that perfectionism is the path to righteousness and is the only way I’ll be worthy of God’s love. I know this isn’t how it works, that it’s by grace we are saved and that he loved us before we ever loved him. And yet I still catch myself trying to live the other way. Inevitably, when I fail to be “perfect,” frustration, shame, and discouragement set in.
“On Her Way” is in my office to remind me to look more closely at the true focal point of this piece, and of my life. At the center of the hare’s body is an open, all-encompassing eye, and above her, flies a dove with an olive branch in its beak. When I become discouraged by my imperfection and slower-than-I’d-like sanctification journey, this art piece reminds me that it’s not me, but the one within me, I need to fix my eyes on.
If you feel disheartened when you fail God, I invite you to reset your eyes on Jesus and remember this with me: You and I are not able to keep his law perfectly, so rest in Jesus, our High Priest, who already fulfilled the law on our behalf (Hebrews 4:15). In Hebrews 11, we read about the many who lived imperfectly, but by faith kept their eyes on the one who is invisible so they kept going. You and I can do the same.
So brothers and sisters, let’s encourage each other to run with endurance the race God has set before us by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith (Hebrews 12). And let’s keep going! Would you praise the Lord with me?
Let all that I am praise the Lord;
may I never forget the good things he does for me.
He forgives all my sins
and heals all my diseases.
He redeems me from death
and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
He fills my life with good things.
My youth is renewed like the eagle’s! (Psalm 103)
By his grace,
Aline
Pastor (Women's Community, Group Life)