Who is worthy of love?
I’ve learned a lot about the answer to this question over the past eight years of being a parent. Seeing how and who my kids love has stretched me in extraordinary ways.
One of the rare animals my oldest son made me look up recently was the blob fish. It was ranked as the ugliest fish in the world. Poor fish.
Of course, to find it on google, my son said “search ugliest fish in the world and blob.” But despite his description that led me quite quickly to a photo of a fish that looks like a blob of mucus sitting on the floor of the ocean, my son loves that fish. In fact, I think he’d even befriend it if he came across it one day. I think he feels like being ranked the ugliest fish in the world may actually be a compliment “because it means it’s so rare mom.” To him, rare and unique is extraordinarily beautiful.
Even though he has mentioned how rare conventionally beautiful objects like diamonds are… those are not the things he spends his energy on. Instead it is more often the objects, plants, or animals that are misunderstood, neglected, or rare for unconventional reasons – ie: the blob fish.
He never stopped to ask if they were worthy before he added them to his collection of things he loves or gives his time to.
As I go through the Spiritual Exercises, the word love has come up for me a lot. It has risen to the top of the ocean of thoughts and feelings in me and has bobbed there on the surface each day. I have noticed that Jesus never stopped to ask if anyone was worthy before He loved them, before He healed them, before He taught them, before He dialogued with them.
I think Jesus would befriend a blob fish too. After all, it’s a part of creation and was brought to life out of love just like each one of us.
So who is worthy?
From the blob fish to you.
Every. Single. Thing.
