Today's Meditation: It's quite a shame that members of many religious groups have made it so difficult for us to discuss God without making people afraid that we're going to try to convert them to our belief system, to our way of seeing God.  The fact is that a vast majority of people believe in God, yet relatively few of us engage regularly in discussions about just what God is, unless we do so among people of our own religious faith. But the fact is that if there is a God and God has created us, then there is a lot of love there for us on the part of God.  Sometimes it's difficult for us to acknowledge that someone else loves us, and we tend to feel unloved or unlovable.  It's taken me a very long time to come to a point at which I can say without doubt at all that God loves me, and now that I know that, my life has become quite different.  I know that no matter what I do, God still will love me, for I'm just as much a part of this wonderful creation as anyone else.  But more importantly, the more I become convinced of God's love for me, the less likely I am to do things that would alienate or anger anyone else. Instead, the stronger my feeling of being loved unconditionally, the stronger my ability is to act out of love myself, to do my best to spread unconditional love myself.  God does love me, and one of the greatest benefits of that love is that I'm able to take the risk to love others, and to commit acts based on love all day long.  I don't need to convert anyone to my beliefs in order to know that they're worthy of my love, and there are no necessary actions on their part for God to love them.  They are loved for who they are, just as I am, and who am I to withhold my love from those whom God loves unconditionally? Questions to consider: Do you feel loveable?  Do you believe that God loves you? If there is a God, do you think that his love is conditional? Do you allow yourself the freedom to be just who you are all the time? For further thought: God knows change can make your life richer.  Live for today but hold your hands open to tomorrow.  Anticipate the future and its changes with joy.  There is a seed of God’s love in every event, every circumstance, every unpleasant situation in which you may find yourself.  Don’t get stuck in a rut or hung up on an outdated blessing.  You serve a God of change! Barbara Johnson Today's quotation: God’s love is a gift that can make you forget yourself at times.  The Scottish writer George MacDonald said, “It is the heart that is not yet sure of its God that is afraid to laugh in his presence.�?SPAN>  God loves us as we are right now!  That’s one of the things I’m most grateful for.  I love the freedom to be myself in God.  I pray that a year from now, five years from now, I will be a godlier woman, but I know God won’t love me any more than he does right this minute. Sheila Walsh http://www.livinglifefully.com/ Assembled by "JoAnn" @DiamondGirlsHTML by ♪♥Wendy♥♪