What is needed?
This question not only changes how I respond to others, it changes how I view my own state before God. If God is not punishing, and instead is asking what is needed, then God becomes far more approachable. I can go to my Heavenly Parents for succor and help, rather than stay away in fear of punishment or judgement. God’s justice suddenly becomes a reliable source of Their constant love. I can begin to view myself as someone They want to help rather than someone unworthy and flawed.
What is needed?
This question can fundamentally change how I approach even the most challenging and complex questions or relationships. This past year has been excruciatingly difficult for me in some personal relationships as well as my faith journey as I have encountered complex and challenging questions. I have often found myself in a place of heart breaking judgement both of myself and others. I’m now asking the question “what is needed?” This is opening me up to compassion in the most beautiful and unexpected way.
Imagine asking what is needed even about the most charged moral and social questions of our day. Would this bring about different answers and potential progress instead of getting caught up in the fight for who is right and who is wrong? What if social justice wasn’t about who needed to be punished and shamed but who and how we could love better? What if we asked,
What is needed for this person to feel loved and supported?
I learned all of this from a book written by Adam Miller, entitled Original Grace.
If you’re curious to learn more I invite you to check it out for yourself. Adam covers this topic from so many different angles and it left me breathless with a burning in my bosom at the truth he was teaching. I had an increase of hope for myself, for God, and for the world. This will certainly go down as a fundamental book that has changed how I think and what I believe.
See it
Say it
Feel it
Do it
Become it
You are a creator. Now go create something great.