You Are You

Here’s the thing: Each of us is beautifully and uniquely made by God. Do you believe that? I believe it is true. I’ve been told that God loves each of us the same – whether we can run a four-minute mile, or walk in fifteen minutes to the grocery store on our corner, or can’t walk at all!

In “Tattoos on the Heart,” Gregory Boyle writes that, “Only when we can see a community where the outcast is valued and appreciated will we abandon the values that seek to exclude...

The wrong idea has taken root in the world. And the idea is this: there just might be lives out there that matter less than other lives.” He goes on to quote the prophet Jeremiah, “In this place of which you say it is a waste...there will be heard again the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness...the voices of those who sing.”

Boyle in his work with the homies in Los Angeles writes much that really resonates with me. I used to believe that the success in my work was what defined me. I identified who I was with what I did. Finally, I learned that God loves me. Plain and simple. I am who I am. There are things that I can do that I know in my heart to become better. Not more loved. No more valued. But, becoming more compassionate, more empathetic, more genuine will produce a Bruce that is more content.

So, enough about me. What about you? If I could give you only one piece of advice, it would be this.

Define yourself, measure yourself only, by how much you love, recognizing that you are a child of

God, and that God loves you immeasurably.