Acceptance

I've been thinking about acceptance lately. I remember years ago it was popular to say, "God loves you the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you that way." On the surface, it sounded right and good. God loves you - that's good, right? He's going to help you to change - that's good, right? Years later, I'm finding that it's a mixed message, much like a lot of messages we hear in some circles. Here's another: "whatever you're afraid of will happen to you, so don't be afraid." Now that is just nuts! Do you know anyone who has stopped being afraid because someone told them that?? Oh well, I'm getting off topic!! Back to acceptance.

God is into setting people free and making them whole. That's Who He is. Acceptance is genuine love - a love that won't walk away if the loved one doesn't change. It's not so easy for we humans. Our love is limited and our acceptance is oft tested. I don't do so well in that category myself. I want to think that I'm an accepting person, but I think a "disapproving tolerance" is probably closer to the truth with some I encounter. I have a long way to go in accepting people the way God does.

I think we have to begin by accepting God for Who He is. Let Him be God. Then we need to accept ourselves with all of our hangups and quirks. Not tolerate, not deny, but really accept that our differences and unlovely places are things God uses in our lives to help us depend upon Him. Then we can pass that on to others.

Just recently a dear friend said to me, "I love you just the way you are - I wouldn't change a thing." What a gift! I felt a deep acceptance and a release of a burden. There is much healing in those words. I heard God's voice in those words. Interestingly enough, I also felt the freedom to change at the same time! What a paradox! The pressure to change was lifted and was turned into an opportunity. God's ways certainly aren't ours, are they? I am truly blessed!