Finally, on this last day of this eating disorder
awareness week, we encounter, perhaps, the trickiest issue: love. The Most High’s
love is so thorough and passionate, it outlasts time. It is everlasting.
“... ‘Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.’”
Jeremiah
31:3
We are that wanted.
We often underestimate that reality. We can get distorted
tunnel vision, convinced by the rejection we encounter in our lives.
Our experiences often produce a lie with each
negative encounter: “you are unlovable.”
Within the pressure image or performance-based
love, acceptability or value produces, we can absorb the harmful message we are
too worthless or ugly, often through the code word of “fat,” to deserve the
Love of the Almighty.
But, indeed, love is at the center of those Divine thoughts...
“How precious also are thy thoughts
unto me... How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in
number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.”
Psalms 139:17-18
Anyone and anything else telling us otherwise is
operating from a place of deception, not truth.
Our Father wants us to bask, accept and explore
just what His love for us means. And, He is certainly not annoyed when we do
so. Rather, He feels the excitement as we reach a closer relationship with Him.
And we are all on that continuum.
When we equate our lovability with an exterior
image, it is almost impossible, by those standards, for ANY of us to achieve
any feeling of being loved. Image is a hard taskmaster. It demands upkeep,
change, punishment, molding and striving to qualify. Image rejects
unconditional.
But Our Father places no parameters on His
determined unconditional love and acceptance of us.
“... ‘Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.’”
Jeremiah
31:3
There’s no expiration date on everlasting.
If we stop, to take that in, we can see there is
Someone who loves and treasures us when others have walked away, taking their
conditional criteria with them.
There’s no need for any of us to wish we were loved.
We already are. And, because we have a loving Father, I believe He creates
unique love-soaked evidence applying to each of us on that most personal level.
It’s not about wishing; it’s about relationship.
Dare to participate in that relationship with the Creator of all today!
Copyright © 2017 by Sheryle Cruse
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