Am I content to be me? I hope someone is, because I sure struggle with that. I love my life, my family, my home, and especially my Lord, but boy do I sometimes wish that things were better or different than they are. When the author talks about Psalm 139, I think immediately about the pictures that I make for shower gifts by using the ultrasound of the baby, the meaning of the first and middle names, and then I use the portion of the Psalm that expresses that "you are knit together in your mother's womb, you are fearfully and wonderfully made" at the bottom of the whole thing.
Think about that. And I will, too. Repeatedly. It is hard to criticize your personality, your looks, your parents and other family members when you realize that you are where you are because God put you there, and you look and act the way you do because God created you that way. I know what you are going to say, so let me stay ahead of that by saying that yes, we do act in ways that God would not approve, and we do allow ourselves to indulge in appetites that can affect the way we look in so many ways. But, the basic looks and personality of the person that you were created to be are never entirely lost, and in essence, you are always the YOU that God designed.
Remember this important lesson: Jesus told us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Kind of hard to love others that way if you use the love you have for yourself as a guide, isn't it? Not self-love, but God-loves-me-love, so therefore I can love everyone else, even my enemies.
I hope this chapter made you think and feel differently about yourself and who you are as the beloved of the God of the Universe. Savor that thought. You could even put it to music: "Why? Because He loves me! M-O-U-S-E!!!" OK, maybe not. But you get the idea. Enjoy Chapter 4!!!
Mary, I love your idea for new parents of creating the framed picture of the ultrasound along with this Scripture. What a blessing to realize God's hand is upon and has formed every single new little baby to be born as well as every single person ever born. Andria, your comments pierce my heart as they cause me to remember how I felt when I was in your stage of life. It is an intense and challenging time. Psalm 139 comforted me tremendously when I "discovered" it at the time that I had three small children at home and I was a relatively new believer. To understand that God was actually this intimate with ME encouraged me to know that He was and is always with me no matter how dark the way or how tired I felt or how confused I was. This truth helped me endure and continue on through the daily challenges because I knew He understood. I am thankful for my husband who perhaps wanted to understand but, truly, men can only understand so much. God,our Maker, Christ,our Saviour, and the Holy Spirit, our Empowerer, understand us and our burdens far better than we do.
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