Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 1:6
This promise reminds me that we’re all on a journey. We’re all made in the image of the one who created us, and it is our adventure and joy to get to grow more and more into the likeness of Love. For SO long, I thought that following Jesus meant making all the right decisions and trying to be perfect. It was exhausting. Living this way actually trained me how to be a very good liar...first to myself and then to everyone else. I spent a good deal of my time hiding from my own pain, hiding any struggle I might face from anyone who might be watching. It has been such a relief and delight to learn that we all come from this place of goodness and wholeness, and that we’re all on our way back to that place, back to being restored to know we are fully known and fully loved, even in spite of all the mistakes we make, all the selfish motives, all the pain we endure and the pain we cause. We, even on the wayward paths, are undoubtedly loved and are invited and beckoned into living from the understanding that we are BELOVED. I hope you’re reminded of that today, even in the midst of the messes we get our hearts into, we can trust that we’re all making our way back to knowing that no matter what, we belong.