Personify Faith Conclusion
When my friend Natalie was sharing image ideas for each of the weeks, she sent me a picture of a lovely butterfly sitting on a flower. The interesting thing about this butterfly, though, was that although it had emerged from its chrysalis with new life as a butterfly, it was not perfect since its wings were slightly torn. Its imperfections were what made it beautiful to me, though, and reminded me that we, too, must persevere even with our own imperfections. Just as that butterfly had to work harder to survive, the beautiful flower it sat on reminded me that the Lord still provides. This little, imperfect butterfly captured for me what it meant to personify faith: to keep living the life God has created us to, despite our shortcomings. When we do as God created us, there will be provision.
May you sense God’s provision in your life.
When I went to divinity school four and a half years ago, I was prepared to learn lots of information about the Bible, Christian History, and Theology. I did acquire a deeper understanding of these things, but I have equally been formed spiritually. A major reason is because of the people that divinity school brought me in proximity to. I remember watching my brother years ago with his divinity school friends and being astonished how deep their relationships were in such a short time. Now I completely understand. When you are in community with people who are intentionally desiring to grow in faith, you can cut immediately through the years of ordinary pleasant conversations and get to the heart of the matter. This study is a direct result of the influence these brothers and sisters in Christ, along with my church community, have had on me the last few years—either through their personal testimonies or the authors they put before me. As Henri Nouwen said, “Pay attention to the people God puts in your path if you want to discern what God is up to in your life.” God has placed in my life simplifiers, beautifiers, edifiers, unifiers, purifiers, testifiers, mystics, and glorifiers that formed the inspiration for this study. I can see their faces in my mind’s eye as I write, and I am grateful for their witness. I hope you have seen yourself in some of these characteristics, but you have also identified areas for spiritual growth. I encourage you, as you leave this study, to choose one area to celebrate your giftedness and one area to press forward in growth-one to show and one to grow.
May God confirm your giftedness and direct areas in which to grow.
Another intentional effort I have made in this study is to put scripture, historical figures, theologians, artists, and current authors all together in one place. I am, by nature, a connector; I like to help join people to new ideas or voices. We are finding ourselves increasingly in silos and echo chambers with people like ourselves. We gravitate to things that will reinforce our own current beliefs instead of seeking things that may push us and help us grow. In my experience, I have found that many Christian small group studies are good at either analyzing scripture, doing a deep dive into history, or hearing the voice of one modern author. My hope with this study is to have some things that were familiar (and that people would be comfortable with) joined with new voices that might expand our faith boundaries. I am inspired by this quotation by C.S. Lewis: “Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period.” By casting a wide net, I hope that you see common themes through the centuries from a diverse assembly of authors, priests, poets, and artists. God continues to speak throughout history—God’s story did not end with the book of Revelation. We are a people of faith with more in common that what divides us. My prayer is that there has been one new-to-you author, artist, or historical figure that you might consider exploring more in the future.
May God constantly help us to break free from our comfortable ruts.
Finally, I write this to live into what I believe God has called me to do. I have known in my heart I wanted to be a teacher since I was probably eight years old. I spent fourteen years of my life working in middle and high schools before taking time to be my own children’s first teacher. Now, I write this to honor that call of God on my life in a new way. If 2020 has shown me anything, it is that we need greater spiritual formation within our church communities. It is not enough to show up to worship once each week and then return to our “regular” lives. My prayer is that something in this study stirred a change in you—an in-breaking of kairos time in the chronos time. Finally, as with everything I write today and in the future, I hope it will someday help shape my own family’s spiritual journey. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper sums up my sentiment perfectly: “Every mother should be a true artist, who knows how to weave into her child's life images of grace and beauty, the true poet capable of writing on the soul of childhood the harmony of love and truth, and teaching it how to produce the grandest of all poems - the poetry of a true and noble life.” This is my hope and prayer.
May God use your story to God’s glory and the edification of those you hold dear, too. Amen.
Acknowledgements
Indulge me in a quick word of gratitude for those that helped in the creation of this project: the faculty of Gardner-Webb University who thoughtfully assigned many of the sources used in this study, including my spiritual mentor and advisor Dr. Sophia Steibel, my classmates at Gardner-Webb for your truth and authenticity, Rev. Blake Kendrick and the staff at Providence Baptist Church in Charlotte for supervising my ministry project, the talented and faithful Natalie Lodato for her artistic works, the Cornerstone and Yo-Yo Pros Sunday School classes for being my guinea pigs on this study, and especially my family who have supported me through my degree program and the writing of this final project. I am so grateful for each of these and the way they have shaped the direction of this work.