You are loved.
Yes, you.
You. Are. Loved.
Yes, yes you are.
Your story, my story, our story, begins with love.
Turn to the first chapter of the Good Book when Love
created from and out of love. Take note that when
Love could have remained with Love’s self, Love
created us: you and me. Selflessly Love created
humanity not only good but also in the image of
Love.
Friend, you, yes you, you are loved.
At the heart of the story of God is this: we do not
exist for ourselves alone, and it is only when are
fully convinced of this fact that we begin to love
ourselves properly and thus also love others. This
life, your life, no matter where you have been or
what you have done, no matter how dark it has become
or how much light appears, your life is a gift.
Friend, you, yes you, you are a gift.
Accepting this reality is a great good, not because
of what it gives you or me, but because of what it
enables us to give to others: love.
We are human. There is no denying or escaping this
fact. While we are good, no one expects us to live
or be ‘as gods.’ We all have our weaknesses and
deficiencies, and these limitations of ours play a
most important part in all our lives. It is because
of them, our brokenness, we need others and others
need us.
Friend, you, yes you, I need you.
Why you ask?
Because we are not all weak in the same spots, and
so we supplement and complete one another, each one
making up in himself/herself for the lack in
another. Or as Ram Dass has said, “We're all just
walking each other home.”
In the movie Dead Poet’s Society, Robin Williams’
character, John Keating said, “No matter what people
tell you, words and ideas can change the world.”
Friend, you, yes you,
can change the world.
You are a gift. Your story is needed. You are
enough. You were created from Love. Love is your
name. Love is your destiny.
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For those of us who claim this Love, when will we
stop offering superfluous words filled with
emptiness and begin embodying this Love? No longer
can the world, our communities, our children, afford
to listen to lyrics of sentimental love. We
must , as Love’s children, deal
realistically with the pain and injustice in the
world. This does not mean of course we seek to
convert people into our image for the sake of
growing congregations. But rather, we offer our
gift, this thing called love, to those who
know real pain and suffer from real injustices
without judgment, without condemnation. Love is not
transactional. We must love others as God loves us:
selflessly and unconditionally.
So yes, you, especially you, you are loved. More
than you ever know.
And the two of us, with everyone in between, we are
more than enough to give this gift of Love.
“Enough. These few words are enough.
If not these words, this breath.
If not this breath, this sitting here.
This opening to the life
we have refused
again and again
until now.
Until now.”
Enough by David Whyte, Where Many Rivers Meet
[Adam Quine Pastor of First Presbyterian Church
in Lincoln] |
