The week’s memory work is Philippians 3:13-14. Yesterday you wrote out the memory work using a separate notecard for each word. Shuffle the notecards and practice putting the words in order.

What if I told you there are no ordinary people in this world? How would you respond?

Yesterday we discussed a quote from C.S. Lewis’ essay “The Weight of Glory.” Near the end of the same essay, Lewis writes:

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously—no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner—no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbor he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat—the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden. (https://www.wheelersburg.net/Downloads/ Lewis%20Glory.pdf)

A person growing deep in their relationship with God recognizes His image in themselves and every person they meet. Not only do they desire to live their future in Christ, but they also want to lead others to the same. Because they see the significance of every person, they decide: “I will not hurt, exploit, use, degrade, or mock anyone. In heaven, this person is going to be awesome. I need to value the person in front of me because of who they are in God.”

Imagine the profound difference when we recognize the Glory of God hidden in every person. What would change in how we treat ourselves and others when we live this truth?

Sit quietly with God. Take a few deep breaths and settle into silence.

1. Close your eyes and offer these prayers several times, allowing God full access into your being.

2. Pray: “Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit, please help me recognize You in me.”

3. Pray: “Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit, please help me recognize You in others.”