The Masterpiece

I want to suggest that there is a version of you that is just as real as the version you saw in the mirror as you were getting ready to come here today. A "YOU" you were created to be. And you are a masterpiece. Good & noble, strong & secure. Created to be like God in truth, righteousness, and holiness (otherliness).

This YOU is creative & productive — does good things that you were created to do, that were planned for you before the world was born. Advances good and beauty in the world. This YOU exercises leadership & influence without ego or self-consciousness. Speaks up freely, acts strongly.

This YOU loves so well — connects freely with people … laughs easily, serves joyfully. This YOU does not hold yourself back because of fear or shame; it is not consumed or concerned with what will come back to you once  you give yourself away.

And above all, this YOU is humbly & willingly connected with God — the Source of your Life — moment-by-moment. And so life is an adventure … a moment-by-moment adventure into the next opportunity to be you together with the God who made you YOU.

It is the YOU you were created to be. It is the "real" you. And YOU … you are a masterpiece.

But you are not yourself.

— From "The Mud & The Masterpiece" part 2