Lipstick

This attentiveness may look like a passive quality, but in Jesus case it is not.

It was ACTIVE.

Watching and seeking.

Jesus mainly paid attention to those overlooked by others. The homeless, the sick, the unlovely, the rejected. He reached out to people who had been told they were useless and gave them a use, worthless and gave them worth, undignified and gave them dignity, loveless and gave them love.

It's the little details that Jesus cared about.

Jesus took this attentiveness a step further with empathy and attentiveness of the heart.

It is one thing to attune our eyes and ears to what is around us, but far more difficult to open our hearts.

We long to feel understood and valued.

We are ALL insecure.

Rob Bell tells a story of a Red Cross package arriving at a concerntration camp. All it contained was lipsticks. Even though lipstick was probably the last thing on the list of things they needed, it actually worked!
Women lay in bed with no sheets and no nightie, but with scarlet red lips. Wondering around with nothing but a blanket drapped over their shoulders, but with bright red lips.

The holucaust was mainly achievable by taking away these peoples humanity.

Someone had turned them from numbers back into people again. The lipstick started to give them back their humanity.

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