Know that you are known

The other day I was sitting in my car and venting for hours on end about life, love, my dreams, my desires, my failures and all the other things that we emotional people do. As I continued to rattle on, verbally vomiting on my poor companion, he gently stopped me and said this to me. 

"Jim...I feel as though you need to know that you are known."

It seems so simple but the truth is WE ARE KNOWN. We are known personally by the creator of the universe. He recognizes us! People that is so profound! The very God who knit together the universe, who painted the stars in the sky, who breathed forth oceans and spoke mountains into being, that God! He knows us and loves us. So many times we can get so bent out of shape over not getting that "job" or that "relationship" or "that A+" that we worked so hard for. Sometimes life can be so big that we feel as though we can't take another step. And sometimes life gets to a place where we feel as though no one understands us (or at least anyone in their right mind). But that's just it. You're known. Jesus had nine inch nails driven through his hands and feet so that on the day that you stand before God he can say to you, "My Son, YOU ARE KNOWN."
-The Albatross

Love your neighbor

“It’s hard to see something in a way that you don’t want to see it and know that you have the option to view it differently. It’s like looking at an optical allusion, which ever way you want to see, it is there. But the approach we take to seeing what we want in the optical illusion is not by saying don’t see object b, but rather saying I want to see object a.. focusing on what you don’t want to be like is no way to become who you desire to be.” 

-James Comenzo

For 21 years of my life I've spent my time worrying about who I was, comparing my self with those around me and constantly trying to better myself by picking out all of my flaws. I'd hone in on a flaw and spend countless hours consumed by the thought of it, until I came to a breaking point and would just give up. I don't know if you're like me, but if you are, this can be extremely overwhelming and quite frankly frustrating. It drains you of your joy, your patience, your love for others. The truth is by constantly being consumed by the thoughts of what we need to work on, we forget to love ourselves. By not loving ourselves we forfeit the ability to love others. Jesus said, "Love one another as you love yourselves..." the "Golden rule." But what if you don't love yourself? If you hate the person you are, you'll begin to hate the people around you. If you are frustrated with your lack of patience, you'll find the people around you to be increasingly impatient and annoying. 

I've heard it said, "The purpose of a father is to see his son in the state he will become, not the state he is in." Loving yourself more means focusing your attention less on what you don't like and seeing the potential of who you can be. Sure you focus on your needs, your health, and your desires, but when we focus on the person we don't want to be, we forget about the person we could be. I've learned a lot this semester about what it means to love myself. Sometimes loving yourself means doing the selfish thing. Sometimes being selfish can be the most selfless thing we do. I've learned that loving our neighbor means loving them as much as we love the person that God sees us to be. The more we begin to see ourselves as he sees us; the potential, the passion, the dreams, the more we will begin to see the potential, passion and dreams in others. 

-The Albatross