Acceptance

Acceptance

What is at the endpoint of a life journey filled with peace and rest?  Acceptance.

Looking deeply into the eyes of that person starring back at me in the mirror and honestly saying, "You are completely acceptable to me now...today." How I struggle to become acceptable, tolerable, sufficient. The energy I expend to get to my goals through routines of self-improvement depletes my physical and emotional reserves. I lose resilience to face the inevitable difficulties of my daily pursuits. "Pursing" is that endless trip on the treadmill of self-improvement.

When do I arrive? How much is enough? When will I be satisfied?

How sad to believe the deception imposed on my inner self by the fallen world, the restless world, this place we live which is polluted with lies. What is the lie that tells me I am not acceptable? My belief about God. In a word, my theology. 

When I see my loving Father God as full of love and acceptance for me and those I encounter, He becomes trustworthy. Just maybe, I can believe the Christ who promised that His grace was sufficient for me, for us.

With His last gasp as He died on the cross for me, at the end of His all too short journey on this earth, He pronounced my sentence for the evil deeds I have done. He described the end of my journey for acceptance. What more can I do to be acceptable in the eyes of the One who loves me most? Nothing - because He said, "It is finished."

Gone is the need to struggle to be right, good, and acceptable. I have arrived. Not just that the end is in sight, I have arrived at the end of my struggle for meaning and acceptance. Oh Father, right now, once again, you remind me that your burden is light, 

in contrast to the burden I place on myself. Making ridiculous demands overwhelms my effectiveness to accept myself, or for that matter, accept anyone else. Living in this self-imposed struggle, where is the joy in living, loving?

Oh, inner self, relax, enjoy, stay present with your loving Heavenly Father who loves you and accepts you just as you are. Is there room for growth in this blissful state of self-acceptance? Of course. But this place of serenity and calm produces the proper perspective and life force to accomplish the difficult, the impossible before us each day.

How beautiful life in God's kingdom is when we rest in tranquility while the world roars around with the demands to suck it up and beat yourself into submission. 

How I must hate myself when I can never, ever arrive...never acknowledge my actual God defined state of being. I am a human being who has been accepted by the One who knows me best. He knows all the hidden parts of my life, the secret visions of who I "should be" as compared to who and what I am. 

Done, finished.

My living goes on, but the life I live does not define me. Christ did that. I am acceptable. I have been fully accepted. He declares no more can be done to complete the path He chose to define me. If I declare myself less than Christ has declared as He stands by my side, I am calling Christ a liar. No, the liar is the voice in my head when I pronounce judgment...unacceptable.

 Oh, loving Spirit, move in me to heal the person staring back at me in judgment. Let the eyes of my heart know the truth about that person in the mirror. I am acceptable just as I am. Without blemish, without need to do more self-improvement, joyous to live another day in the calm of self-loving. 

I will leave self-loathing behind for my enemy to judge. I will be further down the path of self-acceptance and self-love, holding the hand of the only One fully able to pronounce judgment. He did so when He declared all the necessary work was done to bring me into a perfect place, into His perfect place...to the state of total and complete acceptance...my place in His Kingdom. 

Just as I am. 

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