What God gave us to work with
God gave each of us an endowment of many fine gifts.
This card lists 11 of the more important and powerful ones.1. UNIQUE SELFHOOD
A mother watching her daughters dance on stage enjoys the unity, coordination, and beauty of the group; and she sees every movement of each one. She recognizes moves familiar to her, darling hands that have reached to her many times. Each girl is different than the others, each one equally dear. And each girl wants to know, “Mummy, did you see me?” “Oh yes! You were wonderful.” That’s how God looks at each of us, His children. Every one is dear, unique, beautiful, worthy. Each one is the most beautiful thing God could think of.
2. DIVINE HEART OF LOVE
We each have the ability to love powerfully; and so to uplift, feed, and strengthen others, and create beautiful bonds of friendship and care. We can love, no matter how lost and confused we feel, and regardless of our life situation.
Because God gave us His loving heart, we feel a profound sense of care and obligation toward others. Tender regard. Real devotion. Even when we’re unloving, the Divine Heart of Love speaks in us, objecting. To hurt someone makes us unhappy, to love makes us happy. The love we have in our heart is our best guide. It whispers to us, gives hints. It feels. It cares. It’s you. Listen to your heart.
3. KNOWING
We’ve all experienced the truth of the saying, “Knock and it shall be opened.” How often have you pondered a question or problem, and later happily said, “It came to me! It dawned on me!” God would not have us wonder in vain. Understanding is always available to you, in the air, in the heart of God, in the depths of your soul. You can access it simply by tuning in, paying attention, needing and wanting to know.
4. CONSCIENCE
Conscience is the inner compass that guides us in right and wrong, love and unlove. Like: You want to take your sister’s piece of cake, but your conscience says no. You say something harsh, and your conscience says, “Go back and apologize.” And if you’re living a superficial, unloving life, again your conscience complains.
But conscience doesn’t just give us discomfort with wrongdoing; it gives joy and satisfaction when we’ve done right, given beauty, loved well. Conscience helps us live beautifully: create joy and goodness, and avoid creating harm. Thank God for conscience!
5. FLEXIBILITY
Humans are morphers. We’re flexible. When someone is shy or afraid, we become tender; we adapt our being to take them into account. It’s our nature to lovingly adjust to the needs of the moment, the person we’re with. And in so doing, we discover we can sincerely be many ways. In fact, when we get stuck in a narrow self-image and try to be one rigid thing, we run afoul of our multi-faceted nature. We sup- press far too many of our most gorgeous qualities. No single posture or way of being does credit to the infinite potentiality of a human being. We are so vast that only with infinite flexibility could we discover all the aspects of who we are.
"God's part in making you who you are"
(Continued on side 2 of this card)
Click on the card to view full size