Live your joy

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us (Ephesians 5:1-2)

Imitate God? How can one ever imitate the inimitable?

The idea overwhelms the mind and shatters the heart. We cannot imagine the majesty and mystery of God who commands the morning, rides on the wings of the wind and yet is closer than our breath.

And we know all-too-well the things we cannot forget--our betrayals and falsehoods, the words and memories that attack in the night, the aching regret over not being the person you could have been, the sin you tell no one except God alone.

Knowing all this, know one thing more: You are God’s beloved, treasured from all eternity, chosen before the birth of time, destined to be one with the One who is Love and nothing but.

So release every shame, every guilt. You are just as beloved as Jesus when he stood dripping wet in his baptismal waters and heard the voice, “You are my Beloved.”

Breathe that in every morning. Make it your mantra through the day. Then, dearly beloved, go live your joy.

Pr. David L. Miller