To be

The two hardest things to be are to be yourself and to be in the moment. We’re usually trying to be who we think other people want us to be or who we think we ought to be. We spend the rest of our time hoping or worrying for something in the future or regretting something in the past. There are not a lot of times when we just are.

Sometimes we render God as someone who confirms these thoughts. We think that God wants us to be different than we are, so we spend all of our time trying to be who we think he wants us to be and looking forward to when we will arrive there. Then, we think God is focused on our sin, so we spend a lot of time trying to explain the past. What we forget is that God loves us right now, as we are. God is not focused on who we are not, but on who we are.

It is his Presence that reminds us of the truth about ourselves – that we are people in process. In his Presence, He can be God and we can be us – flawed, broken, fragile humans. He is interested in changing us, but into who we really are, not who we’re not. The way that happens is by us being exactly ourselves right now. We will not be changed if we are always trying to change ourselves or pretending we’re someone we’re not. And God cannot change us if we will not just rest in his presence in this moment and let him do the work. The goal is to be yourself right now, which is what God wants of you. He wants all of you exactly as you are and he will fashion you into what you were created to be: yourself.