In all the years of working with people I’ve learned this, people matter. People matter to God. People have value, purpose and worth.

And one thing I have learned is that many don’t even know it. It’s what makes the job of those of us that do know, so important. To do this though requires a lot of risk. A risk of heart, mind and emotion. It requires an understanding of Love.

I am continually learning what Love really is. I know that as a woman, I offer a lot just by being a woman. Women are menders of relationships in the world. The caretakers of relationships with another, while God is the caretaker of the heart that loves. That’s why the word beautiful is used to describe women.

Its beauty that is unveiled in their lives that restores and refreshes in a world that without God finds very little beauty. It’s rough and unlovely. The world can be harsh and cold without warmth and forgiveness. That is what makes the expression of Love so divine. How we Love is a true reflection of Who or what we allow to Love us.

A woman who is loved and knows she is loved is glowing. She beams because her heart’s questions have been answered. “You are enough. You are worth fighting for. You are lovely.”

So when people ask me, “Sarah, how is it you are so cheerful all the time?” It’s because I know I’m Loved. I know I’m not only Loved but Cherished. God’s Love is like a seal on my heart. I need not look for it elsewhere. Not in broken relationships, not in food, not in a job, not in my gifts. Simply in the fact, that God loves me for me. This changes everything! It means because I know I’m Loved, I can now offer Love to another!

And because that Love comes from the Lord, it doesn’t demand a specific response from that person. God is enough! He is my portion. He is my Redeemer. He is the One who completes me!

And so I have that Love now to express and offer. Out of a heart filled with Jesus, comes an overflow of amazing Love and Grace. Grace that is someone doing for you what you cannot do for yourself. Extending kindness when undeserved. Time, when time is short. Encouragement though frustrations arise. Faith when you find yourself at the edge of Jordan’s waters. Hope, when God dries up the Jordan and sees you safely across.

All that to say, we are merely vessels. But we are vessels who hold a priceless treasure when we know and experience the Love of God. Love that goes beyond our own selves. Love that reaches and covers our brokenness as far as the East is to the West. It is a Love that changes us and allows us to be difference makers in a world that needs to be shown a difference.

I am nothing but a pot that has a great bunch of cracks in it. But I see my pot like a geranium pot you might find outside an Italian villa. It’s cracked all over and has moss growing on the outside, but out of every crack there is life growing out of it. There is a plant producing beauty and constantly goes through the process of dying to itself to make way for new blooms to grow.

Love allows broken pots to be a vessel for new Life. And it’s through that Life and that Love that hearts are changed and Lives are made new and Love is truly known.

By:  Sarah Cooper

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