Dear You,

If you’re looking for someone to kick your butt, to set you straight, to whip you into shape, to show you the err of your ways, to step on your toes…don’t come to me.  Please.  I will fail you miserably. 

When I look at you, I see your beauty, your strength, your wisdom, your wholeness.  I can’t help myself.

Sometimes I think the world has seen this as a defect in me.  Some wonder if I am just naïve.  Some point out your supposed flaws to me.  You tend to point them out to me the most.  But all I can see are your infinite possibilities. 

Even when you are unhappy with where you are, I see you as this tiny but powerful seed, loaded with potential, that when lovingly nurtured grows into a tall tree or a nourishing fruit or a delicate flower or whatever you are meant to be.  

I get it that it’s sometimes hard for you to see the same thing.  I do see the places in you that are wounded and struggling, the places where you are hurting and the places where you have caused hurt.  But I know that none of those things are who you are.  I see beyond those places into your spirit. 

I know exactly what Hafiz meant six centuries ago when he said, “I wish I could show you when you are lonely and in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.”  I see that light.  It is bright and remarkably beautiful.    

You may wonder where I got such a filter to see you through.  It’s simple really.  A long time ago I was a girl who wasn’t sure I had much to offer the world, even though I had parents who taught me otherwise.  I thought my weaknesses outweighed my strengths.  I apologized to God for that, for not being better.  God smiled at me and showed me myself through the Spirit lens. 

Through that lens I am perfect and whole.  Through that lens everything about me, even the parts that seem unpleasant, has a place and a purpose, is helping me to grow and learn and move forward.  So I let go of my cultural lens and replaced it with the Spirit lens to see myself, to see others, to see you. 

Rumi once wrote, “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field.  I’ll meet you there.”  I know this field.  I will sit with you in the grass there.  I won’t see you as a list of failures and successes, achievements and disappointments, rights and wrongs, good and bad. 

Your spirit has a soul print.  It’s what makes you unique, what makes you who you are.  If anything, I will help you to identify that soul print, to live from your true self, to feel gratitude that you get to be you. 

You are meant to be different, created that way actually, though you confusingly compare yourself to others.  I see you for the unique creation you are meant to be.  I see you as beautiful and perfect and whole.  I see you that way, because God sees you that way.

So now you know, if you are looking for someone to kick your butt, I am not the right person for the job.  I wanted to be upfront with you about this, so there would be no confusion. 

Plus, I wanted to tell you that you are welcome to use my lens anytime you desire.  It’s really not mine anyway.  It’s big enough for all of us to see through.  You will be amazed at how beautiful the world is through this lens.  You will be amazed at how beautiful you are.  I am perplexed that you haven’t noticed a light that bright.  Perhaps today you will.     

Love,

 Me