God, You graciously call me “Beloved.” Strip me of the notions of my wanna-be self, and my wish-I-wasn’t self. The false self has to go, and I’ve finally identified what my false self is: it is anything I identify myself by other than “Beloved.”
My false self, instead of resting in being the Beloved, expends enormous energy to become such things as…
Be witty
Be strong
Be unique
Be right
Be good
And even Be Spiritual.
Lead me to rest as…
Beloved.
Jesus – just before embarking on His 3-year ministry – heard a voice from heaven saying, “This is my BELOVED…” Before He really “did” anything, He was loved for simply “being.”
Jesus rested in His identity as the Beloved. Jesus squeezed in a lot of “doing” in 3 years of ministry, but his being – not His doing – identified Him. He was the Beloved. He did do miraculous things, but didn’t seem desirous of an identity or a craving to Be Miraculous. He, as the Beloved, did spectacular things, but He did so without falsely aligning His identity in ways in which He had to Be Spectacular in order to prove Himself to God or to others.. He daily surrendered and shed the wanna-be self, and even daily crucified the what-others-want-me-to-be self.
Today, Lord, I accept my calling: to be loved by You.
Beloved. Be loved. In all I do, loved. In all my not-doing, loved.
At the age of 32 I married my best friend, Beth. Thirteen years later we are blessed with two very energetic kids - Jack (12) and Calleigh (9). My wife is a ridiculously good cook who loves hosting dinners in our home, and then I go to the gym to work off the calories. I am an avid reader who appreciates contemplative, Spiritual conversations shared over a cup of coffee. Hobbies and interests include reading and writing, journaling, working out, and St. Louis Cardinal’s baseball. 