Friday, June 26

His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
—2 Peter 1:3

We know goodness when we see it. We know glory when we see it. It doesn’t require that we be schooled in how to recognize it, nor be taught what attributes must be present in order for it to be identified.

We know, for example, when a person cares for another in a sacrificial way, that we are witnessing goodness. We know when we see the movement of the tide and a school of dolphins in the distance, that we are witnessing glory. We experience God by opening our eyes to what surrounds us; we recognize God’s goodness and glory, because in the deepest part of our being, we know God and have seen God’s action there.

Because we know God—because God dwells in that deepest part of our being—we are given that very goodness and glory ourselves. There need be no striving to become something or someone that we are not. Everything that we need to live a life of goodness has already been given to us. Of course, many times we fail to act from that place of goodness. We find ourselves angry, difficult to get along with, accusatory and judgmental, unwilling to bend to accommodate others.

But when we find that we have gone away from our true nature, all that is needed is to be still and breathe for a few moments. In that stillness and in that breath, we touch again that part of ourselves that is mirrored after God. And in that moment, the splendor of heaven moves through us and lights our soul with brilliance.

Gracious God, when goodness seems far from me, help me breathe again the cleansing breath of your love.