Present Over Perfect

comes down from heaven in human form, and the soul feels
its worth.
Because that’s what I’ve been searching for, wringing
myself out for, zigzagging the country for: a sense of my
own worth. That’s what we’re craving: the sense that we
matter, that someone sees us, that we are loved and valued.
And so some of us try to earn it. Some of us try to avoid the
pain of unworthiness by escaping, with drugs or shopping
or sex or whatever. Some of us pretend to be perfect, instead
of admitting that behind the image, we feel as small and
unworthy as we ever have.
The soul’s worth, though, doesn’t come from earning or
proving. Image doesn’t matter. Outrunning the emptiness
doesn’t work for long. Each soul, every soul is worthy,
because God made every soul, and because of his love, his
Son came to earth and walked among us, because God’s
love for us is so deep and wide and elaborate that he wants
to be with us, to walk with us, to teach us how to live in that
love and worthiness.
It is only when you understand God’s truly
unconditional love that you begin to understand the worth
of your own soul—not because of anything you’ve done,
but because every soul is worthy, every one of us is worthy
of love, having been created by and in the image of the God
of love.
It was there all along, that thing I’ve been aching for,
that deep sense of worthiness and love. It was there all
along, for all of us. For so many of us, what religion taught