Usefulness

photo courtesy of Lisa S. Johnson

The Rev. Dr. Kristine Blaess was sharing at our women’s group last Thursday evening from John 15:16, “You did not choose me but I chose you” and she exhorted us to realize that God is always present and active in our life. We need to tune our attentiveness to seeing, hearing, and feeling God around us. He is always working, but we need to be more keenly aware of it. God brings Good news into bad.Kristine was commenting that it has been hard for her to believe that God has already chosen her, before she had drawn her first breath and before she had “earned” His love. In describing herself a few years ago, the voices in her head told her that the only reason God loved her was because she was “useful”.  The word was in my head even before she spoke it.I was the one that could plan parties and vacations and took on the hardest projects at work. Never missing a birthday or holiday, I prided myself on how I made o