God's Beloved

Good Morning All,

The other day a friend of mine and I were sharing stories of childhood. I spoke of how my parents told me that there wasn’t anything that I couldn’t do or become, if I put my mind to it. I always felt encouraged and supported by my parents when it came to my dreams and aspirations. And I looked over at my friend and it was as if he weren’t fully present. What’s wrong? Did I say something to upset you?

“Oh no,” he said. “But do you have any idea of how lucky you are?” “I would give anything to have had either one of my parents believe in me or encourage me to find my way in life.”
‘Even to this day, I have a hard time turning off the voice inside me that is so critical…”
“Can’t you do anything right?” “You’ll never amount to anything.” “What makes you think you can do that?” “I honestly can’t think of a time when I didn’t have to fight these demons running around in my head.” “Every time I had a test or a try-out for band or sports, I could hear my father say some of these things and I was defeated before I even got out of bed.”

I can’t imagine living with that kind of constant criticism. How does anyone ever manage to grow in one’s self-esteem when there’s always someone standing over you with those kinds of comments? How does one ever succeed at anything after being bombarded in this way?
Especially when our tendency as human beings is to mostly hear the negative things said about us; the negative voices from within; or to only focus on our failures…Why is that, do you suppose?

Last Sunday as we reflected on the Baptism of Jesus as recorded in the first few verses of Mark’s gospel, we did so in relationship to our own baptismal story. We focused on the Voice that declared, “This is my beloved; with whom I am well-pleased,” as Jesus came up from the water. By virtue of our own baptism, we too share in this same declaration. This means that YOU are God’s beloved. Imagine, even for only a moment, how much God delights in YOU.

I suspect that many of us have difficulty thinking, let alone believing, that God cares for us this much— especially in times of failure, or worse, ­betrayal; in times of disappointment or suffering.
And yet I truly believe that every last one of us longs deep within our very being, to hear these words…to know that our first, middle and last name…our only name given to us by God, is always, Beloved…

God recognizes each one of us as a beloved daughter or son. And God welcomes all of us into relationship with God as God offers us this important invitation: “Let me show you a new way…Come walk with me out of the former shadows of your life and into the light of a brand new day…I have claimed you and called you by name. You are mine. You are my child. You are my beloved. You make me glad!”
May we be guided by these words as together we move into this New Year…
Blessings, Joanne