...In with the new year

"For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you for I am...wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works."

Psalm139:13-14

 

With all the talk of self-improvement for the new year, we cannot forget how wonderfully and miraculously made we all are by God. Faults and failings aside, God made us and loves us just exactly the way we are.  There is no self-improvement we can undertake that will cause God to love us any more than right now. But, it is good for us to grow and stretch ourselves and try to be the people God knows us to be.  As my dad used to say when I asked if I behaved well enough in mass to warrant a treat after mass: "There's always room for improvement!" We can do better.  And God loves that we want to do better.  It was Thomas Merton who said, "I believe that the desire to please God, pleases God." It's about accepting who we are as beloved children of God. But also striving to be more like Jesus, who gives us an awesome example of how to live a loving, selfless life in the world.  So, today, as we bid goodbye to one year and get ready to embrace another, let's thank God for who we are and how wonderfully made works of God we are!  Happy, happy New Year...see you in '15!  Love, heidi