God's Rain

I believe that loving our individual, unique selves is something that we can and should do.   We don’t need to boast.  We don’t need to flaunt.  But in private moments when we catch a glimpse of ourselves in the mirror, or when we have a chance for honest self-evaluation I believe that there needs to be a little bit less self-loathing and a little more gratitude and confidence that we are beloved children of a brilliant God who is a master creator and who does not make mistakes. He created us not to be doted upon or as ornaments but as interesting, amazing, diverse beings who have a tremendous capacity for usefulness, enjoyment, creation, and sociality.   Like many mothers I have watched my daughter start middle school with much trepidation and worry that her elementary school confidence - despite glasses and complete ignorance of fashion - would give way to low self-esteem and comparison.  I hope that she will grow in her love of God and come to know ...

I read the scripture: "Be ye therefore perfect..."  And it gave me some pause for thought.  I am myself what you would call a Type A personality. I think the problem with perfection is when we think of perfection we think of quantity and we think of being the most like everything else.  When we humans create things we mass produce.  We want everything the same, of a certain "quality" which means it is the most like everything else, the most normal . So when we say someone's "perfect" we are either saying that they are very symmetrical and a lot like the mean.  What we are really saying that they are just AVERAGE. We are all trying to be average.  To lose weight or to gain it.  To have the talents that everyone else has.  The home that looks like the one that everyone else wants.  But have we ever stopped to think who we are and what we want in our life? God does not make NORMAL.  He does not make symmetrical.  He makes in...