From the work in progress Life: A Book About Learning to Live
By Jim Rosemergy
Love’s first action is acceptance.
When people are mad or fed up with God, they often ask, “If God really exists, why is there be so much suffering on the earth? People say God is love. How can this be? No loving Creator would allow a holocaust or the abuse of children.”
The logic is undeniable. This is the classic argument mounted by nearly every atheist locked in debate with a believer. However, most people who believe in a higher power don’t have the answers. In fact, they have the same questions.
The puzzling truth is that it is because God is Love that there is suffering on our planet. Think for a moment about the people who truly love you—what one thing about their love for you do you appreciate the most? For me, it is acceptance. The people who truly love me accept me as I am. They are on no mission to change me. Oh, there are other people who profess to love me, but what they really want to do is fix and repair me and mold me into an image that they prefer.
Most of us believe we need to be fixed, but few or any of us appreciate being told about our mistakes and insecurities. Instead, we appreciate someone who accepts us as we are. There is no pressure coming from the other person. In fact, the message is the opposite. “I love you as you are.” Oddly, in an atmosphere of acceptance, we can change. We want to change.
How many relationships or even marriages begin with loving acceptance, but begin to fall apart when one or both of the people convey in various ways the statement, “You are in need of repair.”
God is love, and Love’s first action is acceptance. This is what people desire. They usually know there are things abut themselves that they need to change, but they don’t want anyone reminding them of their mistakes and broken selves. They want to be accepted as they are.
This is what God does with us. God accepts us, and therefore loves us as we are. Much of humanity thinks the loving thing to do is to fix the other person or repair the situation. This is not the way of the Infinite. God’s way is to love us as we are. Oddly enough, this consciousness of acceptance may allow for limiting behavior and even horrific events, but it also encourages change and transformation rather than the status quo.
Imagine the trauma of being told by the Creator of the universe that you are broken and need to be fixed? That would be heavy. However, listen to your friend God, and you will hear another message, “You are sacred and precious to Me. You don’t have to change for Me. I accept you just the way you are.”