Don't Give Up. You Are Loved

There are just some days when my words are not enough. I can feed myself candy and call it food, but most of the time when tell myself things that sound good in the moment they often leave me hungering for more. That's junk food religion. I don't need that anymore. I need real spiritual nourishment. Sometimes that comes in the form of a quiet walk with my dog, some time on guitar, or sharing a long, wonderful phone call with an old acquaintance.  Other times, I have to rely on the wisdom of someone I've never met but feel intimately close to.

One would not have to look far on this blog to find me quoting the late Belgian Catholic theologian Henri Nouwen. But I know you're too lazy, or don't have the time, to look through the entire site to find something by him, I give you this reminder that I needed to hear today:

The voice of despair says, “I sin over and over again. After endless promises to myself and others to do better next time, I find myself back again in the old dark places. Forget about trying to change. I have tried for years. It didn’t work and it never will work. It is better that I get out of people’s way, be forgotten, no longer around, dead.” This strangely attractive voice takes all uncertainties away and puts an end to the struggle. It speaks unambiguously for the darkness and offers a clear-cut negative identity.

But Jesus came to open my ears to another voice that says, “I am your God, I have molded you with my own hands, and I love what I have made. I love you with a love that has no limits, because I love you as I am loved. Do not run away from me. Come back to me—not once, not twice, but always again. You are my child. . . . I am your God—the God of mercy and compassion, the God of pardon and love, the God of tenderness and care. Please do not say that I have given up on you, that I cannot stand you anymore, that there is no way back. It is not true. I so much want you to be with me. I so much want you to be close to me. I know all your thoughts. I hear all your words. I see all your actions. And I love you because you are beautiful, made in my own image, an expression of my most intimate love. Do not judge yourself. Do not condemn yourself. Do not reject yourself. Let my love touch the deepest, most hidden corners of your heart and reveal to you your own beauty, a beauty that you have lost sight of, but that will become visible to you again in the light of my mercy. Come, come, let me wipe your tears, and let my mouth come close to your ear and say to you, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you.’ ”

I hope it spoke to your heart and given you a beautiful vision of the God I love and adore. The one who the prophet Jeremiah quotes as saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with lovingkindness. I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint." JEREMIAH 31:3,25 (NIV)


Work Cited:
Text excerpts taken from "You are the Beloved" by Henri J.M. Nouwen. © 2017 by The Henri Nouwen Legacy Trust. Published by Convergent Books.

sometimes we have look hard to find love in our midst.