Inspired by lyrics to “I Am a Gift” by StoweGood:
I tell myself that am a gift, no matter what age, no matter how I look, I am God’s perfect Child.
I am a gift and I promise every day when I look in the mirror I’ll say, I am a gift.
I tell myself that God wants only good for me.
I rise above hurt feelings and give thanks that I am a gift.
I am a precious Child of God, so I make this vow and I say it with love, I am perfect and whole and enough, and I am a gift.
Responsive Reading for Sunday, July 14
A woman who had tried everything else she knew of to get well “had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured’ . . . . Immediately . . . she felt in her body that she was healed . . . . He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace” (Mark 5:27-34).
I tell myself that am a gift, no matter what age, no matter how I look, I am God’s perfect Child.
“I love the Lord, for he heard my voice . . . . ; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: ‘Lord, save me!’ . . . Our God is full of compassion . . . when I was brought low, he saved me. Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you” (Psalm 116: 1-7).
“I am a gift and I promise every day when I look in the mirror I’ll say, I am a gift.”
The Prodigal son, who spent this inheritance unwisely, had a brother who stayed home and behaved; but this son was pouting with hurt feelings and wouldn’t come into the house when he heard about the big welcome home party. The father went out to him and said: “My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother . . . was lost and has been found” (Luke 15:31-2).
I tell myself that God wants only good for me. I rise above hurt feelings and give thanks that I am a gift.
In the story of the Prodigal son, the young man had “thought, ‘ . . . I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, ‘Father, I . . no longer deserve to be called your son’; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers . . . . While he was still a long way of his father caught sight of him, and . . . ran to his son, embraced him and . . . ordered his servants [to] . . . bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet” (Luke 15: 17-22).
I am a precious Child of God, so I make this vow and I say it with love, I am perfect and whole and enough, and I am a gift.