It’s not enough to be opened up…you have to be seen and then told you’re delighted in.
I remember these kind of words (not exactly, but close) from my first counselor when I was a boy. My counselor, Pam, made it her mission in life to work with youth and children who had found themselves in dark spaces. She would use anything, from pop music reference to simple puppets, to get kids to open up to her. Yet, that was just the beginning.
She would constantly ask more questions about how I felt about something happening at home and then how I saw myself in that event. She knew that I loved hanging in the background of all the “craziness” of my household, but then afterwards blaming myself for the whole event and beating myself up.
It took years to not only open me up…but then to convince me that she saw me in all this and she was proud of me how I handled it all.
This is God’s first good work with us: to open us up with His voice (remember Jesus’ baptism) and then through love convince us we are seen and are truly delighted in.
This is what Nathanael (and Philip) discovered in John 1:43-51. This is what Justin was writing about in chapter 1 of “Delight.”
We are seen! We are delighted in! When God sees us he doesn’t shake his head and move on. God sees us for who we are and where we really are in life, and then he shouts out, “Woohoo” because he loves seeing and being with His kids.
Yet, it doesn’t stop there. He then invites us to see our families, our friends, our co-workers, the stranger on the street, and even ourselves in the light of the love and delight He has for us.
There is so much healing in this, I can’t even describe it to you. Just know that you are seen, my friends, and you are delighted in by God. Start there. Let it sink in. And then hear the invitation to start seeing your entire world and yourself through the lens of love.