~ Sunrises and Sunsets ~

Among the deepest needs of the human heart is the need to be accepted. Early rejection by people we love can lead to deep and often permanent scars. The child who is constantly told he or she is no good, a deficit, unlovable, and will never amount to anything; carries these destructive scars inside as a video of their future. The result: no achievement, no success, no happiness, no relationship of any meaning, and the feeling that no grace is ever good enough or deserved. In many of these people the video is distorted. Good things are the result of luck or people simply not knowing how evil I am. Good things will be taken away since people will come to see the real me that I am covering up. I feel an enormous amount of guilt when good things happen. I don't deserve them.


I only deserve what is bad and painful. I self-destruct and ruin the relationship which could bring me some happiness and peace. This feeling of being unaccepted greatly influences my relationship with God. I approach God as if He were a bookkeeper or an angry parent who must be pleased. He will only love and accept me if I have enough accomplishments and victories. God's love operates on a merit system. If I do more and practice more virtue, God will love me. The less I do, the less God will love me. I can only stand before God as long as I can show Him all the good things I have accomplished. My worth comes as a direct result of my efforts.

 

It is so sad that so many children are raised up feeling this way. It is not true and far too often, it is much later in life when they discover that, if even then. The birth, death and resurrection of Jesus – is God's unconditional acceptance of us. The sending of his Son into our world is God's living, loving Word which says, "You are accepted. you are accepted as you are. you don't have to pretend, or play games, wear masks, or frantically run around with a bag of your achievements. You are accepted as you are by My unbounded love."

There are many little sunrises and sunsets in our life, that life isn't just a measurement of time, and that it is never too late to find a sunrise before the final sunset of our lives come. That is why it is so important not to take away a child's sunrise or deny it to them. Young children, and even older, are totally dependent on their parents or single parent to explore the sunrises and make them happen for those children. Let them grow! Let them live! Let them be who God created them to be, not what you want or expect them to be. The only measurement of time they know are "moments."

The needs of the human heart are many, and we all have those needs. From the poorest to the richest, there are needs of the heart. We have just explored the need of acceptance. It is important to note that God has already and continues to hear our needs and to fulfill them. The problem is that so many of us are so blindsided as not to realize that is we who are to fulfill the needs of the heart in each other. We need to be an a special moment for each other so we can feel special and important and loved. Jesus embraced us with the biggest “moment of our existence when he laid down his life, a death on a cross that we might attain salvation, eternal life in God's kingdom in heaven.


It is hard to imagine how many different ways that people spend in the sunrises and sunsets throughout their lives. I'm not just talking the physical aspects we develop but more importantly the energy that is released and expresses what life is all about, how beautiful that experience can be; how wonderful it all can be. I hope it is for you, that life's journey is one of special meaning and graced, knowing that we are all walking it together with Jesus, the Good Shepherd leading the way. But we have to make it happen. We have to see those sunrises and sunsets.

It's what life with Jesus is all about. We will never live a perfect life because we are all imperfect. We are sinners, but sinners saved by the grace of God, by the sacrifice of His Son on the cross, but still sinners everyday and we to go to him often to seek repentance. And isn't it so true that those we sin against most often are those whom we love. Think about it and discover it for yourself.



Deacon Steve
September 23, 2010