“Mommy, I want to read this book! Right now mommy!”
Ever in the present, my 3-year old handed me this book, A Kite for Moon.
If you haven’t read it yet, it’s a beautifully illustrated tale of Neil Armstrong, from his early childhood conversations with the moon, until he finally touches her himself and says, “Hello.”
As we looked at the drawing of Neil in his astronaut suit, Ava asked, “Do I have to grow up to be an astronaut?”
“Is that what you feel you’d like to be?” I asked her.
“No,” she answered firmly.
“Then, no. You need to be who you are. And that is a beautiful gift,” I said.
If we were to meet up for lunch today, and I were to ask, “Who are you?” Where would you begin?
Most of us start with our work, our relationships, perhaps our roles. I’m a mom, a pastor, a wife, a leader, a daughter, a friend, a neighbor…
Yet, earlier this week God reminded me of something so familiar but so easy to forget. My primary identity is that I am a beloved child of God. That’s it. Beyond any other relationship, or calling, or role, I am God’s beloved.
And you are too.
Henri Nouwen describes that we are the beloved and we are becoming the beloved of God. That each day we live into this reality and we are being transformed.
Today, I am here to remind you that the voice of God speaks over you the same words Jesus heard at his baptism:
“You are my beloved child. In you, I am well pleased.” Luke 3:22
YOU, my friend, are God’s beloved.
Beyond anything else we become, my hope for Ava, myself, and you is that we will live daily into this core of this identity.
This is my hope, my prayer, my blessing for you this year, beloved of God.
God in whom we live and move and have our being, hold us in the core of our identity: we are your beloved child. Too often our lives are shaped by what others say, what people think about us, or what we do. Let us hold all this with open hands. Ground us in our identity as deeply and fully loved. May it be this love that we live from today. All because of Jesus, the Incarnate One.
