During his forty days of prayer and fasting as depicted in the blockbuster movie, Last Days in the Desert,  Jesus meets a young boy struggling to free himself from the inner voices that keep telling him he is bad. Eventually, the boy gathered the wisdom and courage to shout, “I’m not a bad son!” Those words freed him from the haunting inner voices of shame and doubt. As a result, the boy was able to fully give and receive love.

Many of my spiritual direction clients (myself included) often struggle with the same self-image problems the boy battled in the movie. That pit of self-doubt drowns us in the quicksand of shame stopping us from letting God love us. We get booby-trapped in the false belief we don’t deserve the gift of God’s unconditional love.

Why is it so hard to let God love us as we are, here and now, unconditionally? Who told us we were bad, so that now we place our hands over our ears and run from ourselves and those damning voices?

God did not teach us that falsehood. God is love, not some Brutus who’s ready to condemn us if we step out of line.

That is not who God is. That is not the One who created us in the image of Divine Love.

Like the boy in the movie, we too must stand tall and shout, “I am not a bad person!” We must proclaim those words. Rebuke the falsehoods of shame and doubt that stone our hearts. We must gather the courage and wisdom to open ourselves to the truth letting the river of compassion flow through us allowing us to proclaim, “I am good. I am loved. I am the image of Divine Love.”

As we rediscover who we are, we open our hearts to hear the Creator whisper the words, “I love you.” Then we can whisper back, “I love you too.”

To practice the art of letting God love you, click on the podcast/meditation link below and receive the gift of unconditional love from our Creator.  

 three minute love you prayer meditation

—brian j plachta
brianplachta.net