This weekend, I received my mission call to the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission.
I received it on Saturday, opened it on Sunday. And when I got it on Saturday, I was pretty antsy. I had expected it that week or the next, and so I figured I'd get it any day now.
And so, I decided to stake out for the mailman on Saturday. I went outside, reading a book, so the second the mailman walked by, I knew what he had.
And among those was not my mission call. Rather than give up and go back inside, I stayed outside with my Harry Potter book (I guess it wasn't my book, I was borrowing a friend's).
About thirty minutes later, the mailman returns, and hands me this:
As you can see, it's beaten up. He tells me it was delivered to the wrong house a block away. As you can see, the envelope is beaten up and torn in places, and the adhesive on the seal was beginning to give.
But it arrived nonetheless. It was tattered and torn and a day late, but it had arrived. And I couldn't have been happier to see it.
On Sunday after church, I opened it. Seeing the state of disrepair the envelope was in, but the way the letter and the packet were unharmed caused me to think of what Christ thinks when we come to Him, tattered, torn, and a day late.
He doesn't look at us with disgust and disdain. He doesn't get upset that we arrived in this poor condition. He doesn't have a desire to send us back to get a new one that looks better.
We may be beaten up, with cuts and bruises. We may have procrastinated coming to Him, thinking we'll be alright. We may have gone to all the wrong places, finally exhausting all other options. Everywhere else has denied us and rejected us.
We may have even wanted to come to this point, but have been worried about what He would say, and what He would do. However, we shouldn't be worried. Because only He can tear off the dirty, torn envelope, to reveal our true nature as something direct from God.
He does not reject us, He rejoices with us. He's not disappointed, He's discussing all the possibilities in the future. He doesn't see us as freaks, He sees us as friends.
He takes us as we are, and shows us what we are, what's inside of us. And what's inside of us is cause for celebration. Our divine origin and divine potential is just absolutely beautiful.
I love this thought.
-Nathaniel
P.S.
I'm excited for all the lessons I'll both teach and learn in the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission. I'm excited to meet the members and nonmembers. I'm just excited for this chance to serve the Lord as a missionary.
Now, I should inform you that I will be changing the name of this blog. Seeing how I'll no longer be a youth, I've decided to change the name before I leave on my mission.
I will still update this from Nevada, as I've seen so many people grateful for the writing I've done, and I generally enjoy writing this. Not to worry, I'll ensure that those who often read this will still see when I update, as all I'll do is change the title.
The next time I update my blog, it'll be by this new name, which I've yet to decide on. Just keep an eye out for it.
