"And in this sight I marvelled highly. For notwithstanding our simple living and our blindness here, yet endlessly our courteous Lord beholdeth us in this working, rejoicing; and of all things, we may please Him best wisely and truly to believe, and to enjoy with Him and in Him."
Julian of Norwich (Ch. 85)
God knew when He created us that we would make mistakes, forget Him, get confused, wander off sometimes, and have faults. He understood that we would be weak, blind and simple-minded. He knew every path we would take and every wrong turn we would make, all the messes and crashes we would experience, and yet He still made us, without hesitation! He wanted us, warts and all. What does this show us? It shows us that we don't have to be perfect. We don't have to be perfect to have a good attitude about ourselves. We don't have to be perfect to be loved. We don't have to be perfect to be accepted. We don't have to be perfect to have a good relationship with God. God takes us as we are, right now, with our imperfections, and He rejoices in us! He doesn't just tolerate us or only bear with us in hopes that we will change. No, he delights in us. He totally embraces us and is proud of us and loves us just as we are, right now. For just as we are is beautiful to Him. Just as we are is fine. We never were required to be perfect and we never will be perfect in this life. So what? We are loved right here in the midst of this messy, crazy life, because this messy, crazy, imperfect life is really perfect and our imperfect selves are really perfect to Him just the way we are. He truly looks at us and rejoices; just being with us makes Him burst into a happy love song! The best thing we can do is believe it and enjoy our friendship with Him, enjoy being loved, and enjoy being ourselves!
He will rejoice over you with great gladness; he will love you and not accuse you. Is that a joyous choir I hear? No, it is the Lord himself exulting over you in happy song.
Zephaniah 3:17 (TLB)
"He delights in me."
Psalm 18:19 (TLB)
A Prayer: You are okay with me, so I can be okay with me!