Living Loved
My cousin wrote something thought provoking in his blog the other day. He titled his blog “What I need.” The focus is on when someone breathes life into you through their belief in you and their words to you.
“So you need this cool person nearby to blow some smoke up your trousers. It’s a good smoke, like cherry scented pipe smoke. It’s a sweet smelling scent and it reminds you of what you do well. So you take in a compliment and savor the compliment and roll in the compliment like a dog rolls in something that stinks for whatever reason then runs around like his butts on fire. Like the dog you are infused with life because you are concentrating on what you do well and your chest sticks out a little further and you step a little lighter and the happy thoughts come and you imagine yourself doing great things. Sometimes you allow cool music to play in the background while you are doing these cool things and through some cosmic Dallas cowboy stadium of the universe, people watch……
You will want to find someone and encourage them. You'll want to tell them how they really are because you can see it and they have probably lost sight of it. You can see what they can’t and if they'd just believe you for a few minutes they could see the future for them that you do. They would see themselves setting higher goals, or allowing lesser goals. That little part in them that wants to do more and better but is overshadowed by that little fearful bug that tells them, Nah, you’re ok like you are, you probably couldn't do it anyway, that's for lucky, better people. You might make a mistake in front of everyone and that could be catastrophic and possibly embarrassing- a fate worse than death!
But I would tell you, you know, that thing? That think you've dreamed about, or thought about, that thing that wouldn't take much more energy than your using now, wouldn't take much time, would just take a little more focus, a little more risk, a little more life. Yeah, that thing. You can do it.” Tim Rawlins
After I read Tim’s blog, I heard something that my head just can’t quite let go of. The two seem to go together.
God is not ever cynical or resigned.
Hmmm. I can’t quite get my mind around that. Even knowing he is God, I usually give God attributes that I have or more accurately, burdens that I carry.
Consider the fact that at your most encouraging moment, in those times like Tim talked about – when you really see someone for who they are and who they could be all rolled up in one, that even in those moments you only have a small piece of God’s belief in that person. In his holiness, intense love, and perfection, God is not ever cynical or resigned. When he looks at you or that person you believe in so much, he sees every ounce of their potential, every breathe he has breathed into them, every plan to prosper and not to harm them.
Wow.
To think that God might believe in me ever so much more than I believe in myself is mind-numbing to me. That means when God looks at me, he doesn’t shake his head like I do. He doesn’t think, “Why, oh, why can’t she get it right?” He sees me. The real, intended me. The me who is full of glory and wisdom, beauty and promise. I can’t see that me very often. I can see that in you….it’s easier to see that glory in you and I do want to call it out. I get so excited when I see the intentions of God in your heart. I want to do little dances and sing out all about your strength and beauty and ask everyone I know to come and see the miracle in you. But somehow, it is always a little startling when someone sees in me who God intends me to be. The words and affirmation seem like whispers of God. I usually begin to feel emotional and not very deserving.
Because…I am cynical and resigned. I have to climb out of those cages before I can see God’s heart towards me. It is daily. It’s a conscious discovery of the true nature of God. The true heart of my Father towards me.
Oh, I know he loves me. It’s living in that love that requires a daily embrace.
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