Living Loved

Have you ever read The Shack by Wm. Paul Young? When it came out a few years ago, it caused a little stir among my group of friends, partly because Young portrays God as a sassy black woman. There are a few other things in the book that raised my eyebrow, but on the whole I really loved the book. It made me cry -- in a good way. Mr. Young does a good job tearing away the religious layers we've placed around God, Jesus, and The Holy Spirit. I also think he has a way of explaining difficult and abstract things in a really accessible way. The Shack is an allegory after all.

Anyway, I was reminded of a passage from the book a few days ago when I saw this Hallmark commercial.

Here's the passage from the book:
"Consider our little friend here," she [God] began. "Most birds were created to fly. Being grounded for them is a limitation within their ability to fly, not the other way around." She paused to let Mack think about her statement. "You, on the other hand were created to be loved. So for you to live as if you were unloved is a limitation, not the other way around." [...] "living unloved is like clipping a bird's wings and removing its ability to fly. Not something I want for you."
Here's the commercial:



If  you're anything like me, sometimes you feel unloved or unlovable. No matter how hard you try to count your blessings or think positively, you just can't "fly."

There's this image of us in our relationship to God that appears in the scriptures more than once. We're compared to a baby bird protected by its mother's wing.
Because You have been my help,
Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.
 My soul follows close behind You;
Your right hand upholds me. (Psalm 63:7-8).
 
That same image shows up again in Psalm 17:8, 36:7, and 57:1.  Every time the psalmist is writing about being sheltered from trouble.

As it turns out, the only think keeping me from flying is the belief that I can't. What a marvelous idea. God's love is always there to comfort us and give us wings.

I hope you feel loved every day because God has delighted in you since you were just a little thing, and He wants you to face each day with grace and confidence in his love. He wants you to fly.

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