Human or Divine: What if We're Both?

Godliness.

I shoved it up my ass like an outdated enema.

I shoved it in to shove all my shit out.

The fruits of the Spirit, they said. Be more patient. Gentle. Good. Kind. Loving.

Be, BE, BE!!!!

What did I get in return?

Exhaustion. Fatigue. Overwhelm.

And irritability.

The fruits of the Spirit? My ass.

But wait... what about... the Sabbath? The rest? The abiding?

Where the hell was that?

There's this topic, you know, circulating all over evangelicalism. A core belief. The main course, really.

And it's stale and it's fake. Original sin is the twice-baked casserole's name. Find me a church Father who taught it, I dare you. Better yet, show it to me in the Red Letters.

But I thought we were made in the Divine Image? If only God can create, how was I formed in the Image of Sin?

So we gaslight ourselves. We snap our backs with the whips that we ourselves have fashioned and wield with our own enslaved hands.

Godliness.

Our sinful flesh. A thing to be surrendered. Repented of. And if that course of action should fail, a thing to be brutally crucified.

I've seen it. I hear it. I hear it every day, it seems. I'm a coach, you know. We hate ourselves. We're trying and trying and trying to do better with nothing to show for it. So we beat ourselves up.

And you know what that causes? Pain.

And you know what happens with that pain? It causes more pain all around us and in the lives of those we love.

It's ok, really. It's built a great business for me. People in pain from bullshit beliefs. But you know, I'd rather find something hopeful.

Something real.

Let's put my business out of business, guys.

I was driving last week.

And this wild, wild thought hit me.

What if.

What if.

What if instead of trying to "be godly" we just loved ourselves? What if we loved our mess, right in the place of our own shit?

What if we loved our very real, raw, messy human selves?

This crazy thing happens, you know.

You know what love like that is? The ability to love something that's kind of crappy? Only God can do a thing like that. That takes Divinity.

That energy... The loving of our own mess...

What if THAT'S the Divine?

The Divine within.

The thing that can see our bright side through the dark times when there ain't none. It's believing in yourself when no one else can, it's amazing. (Yeah, I do love me some Eminem.)

What if "waking up" our godliness...

Was exactly the opposite of what we thought.

What if the practice of "becoming godly" was about learning to love our real, raw, and messy little pieces of humanity?

What if that was the path to becoming who we truly are?

Fully human... and fully Divine.