Good morning…
Sorting through the junk in my purse, I came across the Henri Nouwen quote we discussed last month in our therapeutic community group at PAWkids. Reading this quote aloud together, I used colored pencils to highlight words capturing my attention.
Might you slowly, quietly read these words aloud to yourself, noticing the words which intrigue you?
“Every time you feel hurt, offended or rejected, you have to dare to say to yourself,
‘These feelings, strong as they may be, are not telling me the truth about myself.
The truth, even though I cannot feel it right now, is that I am the chosen child of God,
precious in God’s eyes,
called the Beloved from all eternity
and held safe in an everlasting embrace.'”
Men and women, black and white, older and younger, each person in our eclectic group knows what it feels like to be hurt, offended and rejected. Yet God’s timeless truth is always stronger than any of our passing feelings. The deepest truth about each one of us is that we are chosen, precious, beloved, held safe in God’s everlasting embrace.
One young black man said, “I guess we are LOVED, period.”
“That’s a great way to say it,” I replied, writing his insight on the bottom right corner of my page. “We are each LOVED, period.”
To us, the greatest demonstration of God’s love for us has been his sending his only Son into the world to give us life through him. We see real love, not in that fact that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to make personal atonement for our sins (1 John 4:10, PHILLIPS).
Given abundant life through Christ, we are always and forever LOVED, period.
…Sue…
