We are all loved by God. All people. Each of us is loved from long before we were born and we will be loved long after we are gone from this earthly existence.
God is love and we are his creation. He loves us with a love we cannot even imagine. Just as his thoughts and mind are so greater than our mind’s ability to comprehend, his love is also greater than we will know.
We truly are all the beloved sons and daughters of our Father in heaven. So the question is, can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone you met each day were filled with the joy of knowing that no matter what challenges they might face, no matter what losses they might endure, God the Father loves us so deeply.
As if we were the only one he loved at all. It’s hard to imagine a love that special for each of us because we are limited by our small ideas of what love is about and a narrow definition of love and being special.
Just as it is hard for us to imagine what the world would be like if it was full of people who knew in their heart that God loved them, we know it is hard for many folks to believe that they are loved so deeply.
The fact of the matter is that the evil one knows he must first convince us that we are not really loved by God. Not us. Not folks that are so weak or sinful in nature. How could a God who is love, well, love someone like me. This is the first attack men and women face as they are just leaving childhood. It is a very successful attack because while convincing us of our unloveableness we are also offered a chance at approval here on earth. Whether the carrot being held out is money, sex or fame, it is offered to us to replace the doubt we now have about our beloved nature as children of God.
And soon our whole paradigm on what we want, what we need, what happiness really is, is now perverted and twisted so that it takes a great deal of faith and courage to work our way back to remembering we are the beloved children of God and we are surrounded by his blessings.
We have a Father in heaven who is constantly beside us waiting for us to make the slightest move to open up our life and hearts so he can talk to us, to return to him.
We hear much about repentance or “turning around” in Church and in homilies but the very first thing we need to turn around is our false understanding about who we are and what brings real peace and joy into our lives.
We see people every day who have it all; riches, fame, success who at the first challenge find themselves unable to cope and they give up. Marriages are broken, relationships are destroyed and lives are even lost.
Real peace, real joy, real love can only begin when we embrace with our hearts what being a beloved child of God means.
I wear on my left wrist a bracelet given to me months ago by a deacon from the diocese of Rochester. He gave it to me because he saw I understood that the greatest challenge ministers face (and parents face for that matter) is convincing those we love that they are loved. On my bracelet it says, Beloved Son of God. Not because I am any more beloved than you. But because I too need to remember God loves each of us. I am getting there and I invite each of you to write down on paper Beloved Son or Daughter of God and place it where you can see it. Or you might even ask me for the extra bracelets I have….they aren’t terribly expensive or well made….But the message is awesome. Their value is that they are something to remind us that we are beloved.
Stop a moment today and remember God’s love. Take a moment, spend 60 seconds to breathe slowly and just allow yourself to be with God. Remember, you were first a child of God before you were born to your parents. You are still that child, loved and honored by your heavenly Father.
Deacon Tony Pynes 
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