What if God is fond of you?

What if you knew
and trusted
that God
your very ground of being
is fond of you?

How are you around people
who you know are fond of you
vs. people who you think
are critical of you?

Maybe you’re more relaxed
or funnier
In short, you’re more… you.
With them, you’re… free. 

Well, what if God was this way?
What if God was truly fond of you?
Because that’s the God
that Jesus reveals to us.

The fondness of this God
for you
can never be changed
no sin is powerful enough
to change God’s mind
about you.

This is not to say
that we’ll receive that fondness
or reciprocate it.

On the bad days, you might want
to curl up in a corner
be mad for awhile
be sad for awhile
shake your fists at the sky
beat up on yourself. 

And that’s normal.

But God, the ground
of your very being
is purely fond of you
so when you get out of that slump
you never have to wait another minute
for God’s open arms to embrace you
welcome you right back into the fold
the eternal, dynamic,
loving flow of life.

In Jesus, 
the illusion of a wrathful
and distant god 
died 
in order to reveal the truth about God. 

God, the very ground of your being 
is fond of you 
not because of what you’ve done
or haven’t done
which always falls short 
but because you have been made 
good. 

Everything else about you
outside of that
is limited. 

Amen.