I remember when the book, "I'm Okay You're Okay" came out when I was a teen. HERESY! My pastor probably didn't even read the book. Just the title alone was enough to make his theological cap blow. Any theology that put humanity in a positive light was from the mouth of the devil himself and must not be believed. So I believed the pastor. Then I went down the long and winding road of all kinds of theology, almost all of which espoused this idea that we are broken, sinful, evil, children of Satan, worms, and worthy of and destined for eternal death. Unless we were elect. I even won the Reformed Theology Prize in seminary. I was all in. I struggled reconciling this theology with what I actually knew and experienced though. It didn't jive. Then, in a moment, it did. I remember it exactly. Now I believe I am okay. And so are you! Isn't it amazing, the more distance is made between you and your past beliefs, how foreign they now seem to you? I mean... not just the individual beliefs, but the whole culture around it. It's almost like you were in a cloud. Or a dark night. Or in a dream. Or a nightmare. Where it's not just the details, but the attending feelings also, that soak through to your bones. Now we can look back and say that was for then. But now we can look at where we are and say this is for now. Look... research has shown that what people most regret on their deathbeds is not what they did, but what they didn't do. And most often it is, "I should've just relaxed and enjoyed the life I had more!" Seriously... when you get to that point of realization or whatever... you will realize that you are perfect right here right now. And then you will realize you could have thought that same though your whole life and not been wrong. Do you see what I mean? |