Wildly Loved
I get daily devotionals from the United Church of Christ. Today's was especially beautiful, helping me imagine how it would be--how I would be--if I truly believed that God was head-over-heels GONE for me. Wow. Actually, imagining this isn't difficult for me, but I do need reminders.
It's not difficult because of a dream I had, oh, about 20 years ago now. I was simply walking in the mall (of all places). I was walking in the mall, but I carried myself as if I were beautiful. My head was held high. My shoulders were back and I was standing up tall. I was swinging my arms and smiling. I was confident about taking up space on the earth, for I knew that I was loved completely and that my life was a gift from God--a gift not to be wasted but lived to the fullest.
That dream itself was a gift from God, sent straight to me just like so many biblical characters! The gift said, "Katherine, this is who I have created you to be, now you GO FOR IT, girl!"
I'm smiling. Hope you will be, too, when you read this UCC devotional:
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Song of Solomon 2:8–13 Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come and the voice of the turtledove is heard in the land.
Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson---Aren't these lines of Scripture lovely? Read them aloud to yourself once more. Scholars debate whether the Song of Solomon is human love poetry that is all about the love of two people, or a metaphor of God's love for Israel and the Church. But does it have to be one or the other? Can't it be both? If we can entertain that possibility, here's another: could you imagine that God is as wild and crazy about you as a teenager gone hook-line-and-sinker, head-over-heels in love? Often, it seems, we think and speak of God's love for us as cool, restrained and matter-of-fact, and frankly sort of boring. But is that really the way love is? Imagine this: God is just crazy about you! Could that be? Try, this one day, believing that God is just wild about you.
Prayer: This day, dear God, help me imagine, that despite my flaws and foibles, I am precious in your sight and beloved (wildly) by you. Amen.
It's not difficult because of a dream I had, oh, about 20 years ago now. I was simply walking in the mall (of all places). I was walking in the mall, but I carried myself as if I were beautiful. My head was held high. My shoulders were back and I was standing up tall. I was swinging my arms and smiling. I was confident about taking up space on the earth, for I knew that I was loved completely and that my life was a gift from God--a gift not to be wasted but lived to the fullest.
That dream itself was a gift from God, sent straight to me just like so many biblical characters! The gift said, "Katherine, this is who I have created you to be, now you GO FOR IT, girl!"
I'm smiling. Hope you will be, too, when you read this UCC devotional:
_________________________
Song of Solomon 2:8–13 Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come and the voice of the turtledove is heard in the land.
Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson---Aren't these lines of Scripture lovely? Read them aloud to yourself once more. Scholars debate whether the Song of Solomon is human love poetry that is all about the love of two people, or a metaphor of God's love for Israel and the Church. But does it have to be one or the other? Can't it be both? If we can entertain that possibility, here's another: could you imagine that God is as wild and crazy about you as a teenager gone hook-line-and-sinker, head-over-heels in love? Often, it seems, we think and speak of God's love for us as cool, restrained and matter-of-fact, and frankly sort of boring. But is that really the way love is? Imagine this: God is just crazy about you! Could that be? Try, this one day, believing that God is just wild about you.
Prayer: This day, dear God, help me imagine, that despite my flaws and foibles, I am precious in your sight and beloved (wildly) by you. Amen.
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