Beloved.

Whenever I read something that "changes my life," I feel responsible to share it with the world.  If you're in need of some revitalization and a reminder of how precious you are, pick up this book.  May these words from Henri J.M. Nouwen's book, Life of the Beloved, encourage your spirit:

"We are the Beloved.  We are intimately loved long before our parents, teachers, spouses, children, and friends loved or wounded us.  That's the truth of our lives.  That's the truth I want you to claim for yourself.  That's the truth spoken by the voice that says, 'You are my Beloved.'  

Listening to that voice with great inner attentiveness, I hear at my center words that say:  'I have called you by name, from the very beginning.  You are mine and I am yours.  You are my Beloved, on you my favor rests.  I have molded you in the depths of the earth and knitted you together in your mother's womb.  I have carved you in the palms of my hands and hidden you in the shadow of my embrace.  I look at you with infinite tenderness and care for you with a care more intimate than that of a mother for her child.  I have counted every hair on your head and guided you at every step.  Wherever you go, I go with you, and wherever you rest, I keep watch.  I will give you food that will satisfy all your hunger and drink that will quench all your thirst.  I will not hide my face from you.  You know me as your won as I know you as my own.  You belong to me.  I am your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, your lover, and your spouse... yes, even your child... wherever you are I will be.  Nothing will ever separate us.  We are one.'

Every time you listen with great attentiveness to the voice that calls you the Beloved, you will discover within yourself a desire to hear that voice longer and more deeply.  It is like discovering a well in the desert.  Once you have touched wet ground, you want to dig deeper... There may be quite a pile of dry sand in our lives, but the One who desires to quench our thirst will help us remove it."