Today’s scripture: Mark 10:13-16 (ESV – text and audio) (KJV) (The Message)
As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.
My thoughts (Tom Chittenden):
Perhaps you have heard the story of when Michelangelo was asked how he created a piece of sculpture. He answered that the statue already existed within the marble. God had created the Pieta, David, and Moses. Michelangelo’s job, as he saw it, was to get rid of the excess marble that surrounded God’s creation.
And so it is with us. The perfect “you” isn’t something you need to create, because God already created it. The perfect you is the unconditional love within you. Your job is to allow the Holy Spirit to remove the fearful thinking, limiting beliefs, wrong conclusions about the past, and any other negatives that surround your perfect self, just like the excess marble surrounding Michelangelo’s perfect statue.
I love this thought, from Marianne Williamson’s book, A Return To Love:
To remember that we are part of God, that we are loved and loveable, is not arrogant. It’s humble. To think we are anything else is arrogant, because it implies we’re something other than a creation of God. Nothing we have ever done or will ever do can mar our perfection in the eyes of God. We are deserving in God’s eyes because of what we are, not because of what we do.
What we do or don’t do is not what determines our essential value — our personal growth, perhaps, but not our value! That’s why God approves and accepts us, exactly as we are. What’s not to like? We were not created in sin; we were created in love!
And so, in reality, our personal spiritual journey, ironic as it sounds, isn’t so much a journey toward as it is a return to love — that pure, simple, guiltless, perfect love that we came into the world possessing. It’s time to “remember who we are.” It’s time to invoke the magnificent power of the Holy Spirit and exercise our free will by telling God we are willing to look at our lives, our circumstances, our feelings, our relationships differently. This “different look”, with consistent focus and intention, will allow the Spirit to bring Healing Light into our heart and mind. This Light will dissolve away all that is not Truth, all that is not Love, returning us to the true essence of Christ — one with Him! It is then we will experience God’s Peace, the Peace that cannot be put into words.
If the things you have been doing and the way you have been thinking have not yielded the changes you desire in your life, your world — perhaps it is time to think and do things differently!
Thought for the day: Remind me, God, that You created me in Love, in Your Image. I have everything I need to overcome the fears that have accumulated in my life. I have access to the wellspring of Perfect Love.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to start, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.