It was Thomas Merton who wrote:
"A tree brings glory to God by being a tree."
I have lived by this idea for years. One of the most powerful ways we can bring honor and happiness to God is by loving who God made us to be, and becoming the very unique person God so lovingly designed.
Easy to say; hard to do.
Here is another Merton riff on this same idea:
"The special clumsy beauty of this particular colt on this day in this field under these clouds is a holiness consecrated to God by his own creative wisdom and it declares the glory of God.
The pale flowers of the dogwood outside the window are saints. The little yellow flower that nobody notices on the edge of that road are saints looking up into the face of God.
This leaf has its own texture and its own pattern of veins and its own holy shape, and the bass and trout hiding in the deep pools of the river are canonized by their beauty and strength.
The lakes hidden among the hills are saints, and the sea too is a saint who praises God without interruption in her majestic dance.
The great, gashed, half-naked mountain is another of God's saints. There is no other like him. He is alone in his own character; nothing else in the world ever did or ever will imitate God in quite the same way. That is his sanctity.
But what about you?
What about me?"
(Thomas Merton - New Seeds of Contemplation)
Merton is asking, Do you have the courage to be who God made you to be?
No comparisons ...
No wishing you were someone
or something
else ...
Do you have the courage to believe that you can bring glory to God
simply by being
you?
Thnx Alice 💖 This is exactly what I’ve been working to do in the past cpl of years. Actually loving ourselves is one-of-the simplest things we can do to serve the Lord. Instead…we are our worst critic and expect so much more of ourselves than we’re designed for. All it takes, no easy, is to dig through all the debris and we find our soul in all of its glory and grace.