“4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.”
I briefly met Jessica Gerhardt, a ukuleleist and songwriter, at the end of a Gungor concert, and for it being so quick and sudden, she left such a lasting and soulful impression. When she looked at me, she really looked at me, my personhood, who I was. She was fully present.
She was introduced to me by a friend of mine, and I found that Jessica was an astounding songwriter, singer, and musician. I was able to share that I would love to support her and her art by featuring her on my blog. Normally upon meeting artists about my “Coffee and Conversations” blog, it is rare for the artist to reach out to me directly to be featured, I tend to extend the invitation and reach out, but the table quickly turned with Jessica.
That same evening, I saw that Jessica Gerhardt began to follow me on Instagram, and a few days later, I saw a Facebook message from her asking if she could be featured, and I was astounded by her consistency, tenacity, and making me feel like what I offered to the world mattered.
That same intent that presented itself upon meeting her was the same intention that followed in our “Coffee and Conversation” session together. The only time that we had prior was the few minutes of meeting one another at the Gungor concert, and as much as our “Coffee and Conversations” session should have been full of awkward silences, odd tangents, and uncertainty, it was quite the opposite.
Jessica Gerhardt has a way of making someone feel at home; she makes you feel okay to be exactly who you are. Not once did I feel like I need to entertain, perform, or impress, and her ability to love, care, and connect with a complete stranger like me in this way is truly a gift.
Authenticity and loving others well, is her end, her why, and I was so honored to be able to experience this. In our interview together, she describes this way of being so beautifully:
“I definitely feel like it is important to discern your calling. The way I understand vocation and calling is a deeper becoming of your authentic self. Who you truly are has always been there because you were created with that already inside of you, but your life is a journey of stripping away everything else that covers that up and isn’t that. Michelangelo said that the David was already in the marble, but he had to chip away what wasn’t the David. This is a beautiful image for vocation. I think that has been integral for everything that I choose to do. I have to reflect on what is the ultimate end of my life. Is it to make it in music? Or is it to make a lot of money? Or is to accomplish certain markers of success? The answer is “no”, this is all means to the end, which I believe is union with God, a sense of total completion and wholeness, whatever that higher power is, something that doesn’t pass away in this world.”
Jessica and I continued the session talking about all the various means that tend to distract us and people from the greater end, which we both believe is loving people well, being love to others because God is love. We found that jobs, our own passions, hobbies, fun, money, success, are not the end we ultimately seek, even if we sometimes feel tempted to believe they are, but they can all be means by which we grow closer to God.
All of these wonderful resources should only aid and support us to be able to love more deeply, to love more wholly, to love more authentically as we continue in this journey of life, and these means should only guide us to find and become our more authentic and real selves.
I encourage you this week to chisel a layer to get closer to a more real and authentic “you”. Look beyond the means, whatever may be distracting you or consuming you from mankind’s greater end which is to love one another well.
“1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ”
Please take the time to support Jessica, and her music by following her on Instagram and Facebook @jgerhardtmusic. Her newest album, Be My Hands, will be available on all music platforms on June 28th, and she will be going on tour beginning July! She is also playing at the Hotel Cafe on June 29th, so please come out and support her. Please take the time to support her and see more about what she is up to at jessicagerhardt.com.