Be still -- and be -- God tells us

I am thinking again of how holy it is to be, of how amazing it is to get to exist and to have been created human. I am thinking of how much worth God places in being human, to have become one himself, and how much worth he places in being, to call himself I AM.

I am thinking of how this reassures us that we need to make our being nothing more or nothing less than what it is.

Of how, even when it seems as if nothing is happening or we can't make sense of what is going on, or when we don't see the reason behind things, that because we are, we can be assured God is working in us, with us, through us. That He is.

We don't have to compensate for what we feel we lack. We don't have to live in dread or fear of "bad" things.

We don't have to worry or stress about outcomes or tomorrow or yesterday or anything. We can accept it all, hold it all with open hands and invite Jesus into it fully to transform it as he will.

We can live our lives as a prayer. We are. God is. He created us, and our existence makes us holy, sacred, worthy of reverence. We are loved, not because of anything we do or don't do, but because we simply are.

A few people have shaped my thoughts about being.

My friend, Missy, when we were talking about caring about someone or something: "It's not a show for other people. When you care, you just care. And that's enough. The fact that you care is caring -- you don't have to do anything to prove it. ... People can tell when you care."

I think that also applies to life and to being, too. We can drop all of our feelings of not being enough or doing enough and just be. God said we were worthy and very good by creating us, and so we are.

Abraham Joshua Heschel: "Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy."

Thomas Merton, who knew his deepest prayers, his deepest feelings, were in saying nothing because there was nothing he could say to capture the depth of it, to be pure and free of self, to be in union with God, except by being: "No need to talk about it; to live it is to console you."

Father Bill, who taught us a meditative prayer he prayed with Psalm 46:10: "Be still and know I am God. Be still and know I am. Be still and know. Be still. Be."

When we realize our own inherent dignity and the depth of the love we live in, we are also free to realize everyone else's dignity and that they live in this same love. That is what will change the world.