Different hair.
Different eyes.
Fewer wrinkles.
Curves in different places.
Maybe curves at all.
Maybe not so many.
A better body.
Better voice.
Better ability to cook.
Personal cook.
Bigger house.
Cleaner house.
Cleaner car.
Better car.
Sports car.
Car maker.
Decision maker.
Movie maker.
News maker.
Known people.
Famous people.
Popular people.
Beautiful people.
That is what I want to be.
Actually, I want to be...
...Anything...
...Anywhere...
...Anyone...
But me.
Envy
Desiring someone else's gift, characteristic, or material goods
Love does not envy.
Remember with me. My "fast" for Lent is "give up everything you feel you have to do to get me to love you. Simply enjoy how much I love you."
Love does not envy.
God does not envy.
Seems absurdly obvious. What does God have to envy? What could He possibly want that He doesn't have? Anything He wants He can create Himself. There is nothing for Him to envy.
Anything...anyone...He wants He can create Himself.
So maybe what He wanted is exactly what He created.
Maybe YOU are exactly what He wanted, and He doesn't desire for you to be someone else.
Maybe what He is offering you is not another to-do on the Required-to-be-Holy Love List. Maybe what He is offering you is a chance to love yourself because you were made by the Holy.
Love doesn't envy.
Love enjoys being who I am as I am.
Love says I am amazing even if I can't carry a tune, don't have the body of a dancer, can't write like Ann Voskamp, didn't pass the USMC physical, and have never hiked a mountain. And love says I can believe I am amazing just as I am.
This isn't another thing to do. It is someone to be.
Someone who rejoices in who I am, the gifts I have, the characteristics God put in me, and the blessings He gives.
Envy is simply another word for wanting some soul plug to fill the empty places we believe we are lacking, but love understands a wholly powerful God makes us wholly amazing and nothing needs to be added. Nothing can make us more amazing than the hands of our Creator has already made us to be.
Love enables me to love the amazing gift I am...and enjoy the love of the One who made me this way.
I just finished reading "The Shack" this weekend. I read up through about Chapter 6 the first time I tried to read it, but couldn't understand this 'Papa' thing. This time, I totally did and it gave me an even freer understanding of who He is and the LOVE He has for us. I know a lot of people get hung up on the theology of the book or believe it to be "heretical", but what I walked away with is that we are limited in how we think about and receive Him in our human form, but, THANKFULLY, He loves us knowing our limitation and in spite of it. He wants us to let go of all the "rules" and live in the freedom of Christ. Yes, there is a whole lot more to that, but it's a great place to start...resting in who HE is and not ruminating on how far I have to go and all the places I feel not enough!
ReplyDeleteSo glad to see you finding that place of rest in His hands, too. "...perfectly and wonderfully made..."
"resting in who HE is and not ruminating on how far I have to go and all the places I feel not enough!"
ReplyDeleteYES!!!!!!