Friday, April 12, 2024
Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
How can anybody read the Gospels and fail to see how Jesus, in his contacts with all sorts and conditions of people, even the apparent good-for-nothings and worse, always seemed to find in them possibilities for sublime development?
— Carroll E. Simcox
Many of us feel we don’t deserve God’s love. We judge ourselves harshly and attribute the same judgment to God as the strict parent, the demanding teacher, or the punishing judge. We cannot believe that anyone could accept us as we are, and so we don’t turn toward God.
Why do we feel this way? Perhaps because it’s hard to feel that God could love us when we so rarely received love without strings attached from others. Many of us remain skeptical even when newfound spiritual friends shower us with love. Though we may not realize it at the time, these friends are providing a human framework into which the unconditional love of God can fit. If these friends can accept us as we are, we think, maybe God will, too. And of course God does.
When my hand reaches out to another, God’s hand reaches back.
Hazelden Foundation
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