Being Known

Being known - a condition I need to experience - regularly.

I need to know God knows me; loves me; cares for me. Being known is important.

It was a beautiful late winter day in Colorado. The kind of day that snow still hovered but my heavy sweater provided the necessary warmth. The blue sky and the strong sun invited me to join them that morning. I gratefully accepted and drove to The Broadmoor, a 5-star resort at the base of the Rocky Mountains with an abundance of the beauty and the silence I sought. I love water; and while the temperatures co-operated, I enjoyed a park bench, my coffee, and reviewed my journal near the small man-made lake. 

A few clouds appeared jostling for position with the sun. I headed inside to one of small sitting areas; an overstuffed chair in front of a lit fireplace attracted me like a magnet. I sat for a bit ensconced in the quiet and the comfort; mesmerized by the flickering yellow, blue, and red.

I pulled a book from my basket, The Furious Longing of God, by Brennan Manning that I’d been saving for just such a day. It didn’t disappoint. My eyes stilled and my heart tranquilized half way through the first page of the first paragraph. 

“I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me” (Song of Solomon 7:10)

God’s voice was obvious to my heart. I belong to God! God has desires for me! A new, fresh word from the Lord reviewing truth I know, but sometimes need to be reminded of again.

Being known! God knows me; he meets me where I am.

Being known, an aha moment in the midst of ordinary, usually appears when least expected. Sometimes while reading a book; when listening to a sermon; in the words of a friend or an acquaintance; from the lyrics of the song playing on my iPod. Whatever, I pause; I listen or read, and re-listen or re-read; I want a re-play. God comes through the fog of life. I hear new truth or old truth that I know is designed or re-phrased for me. I grab my pen and journal lest I forget.

Even remembering and recording these words this morning, my heart beats a bit faster, the goose-bumps are real. God’s message to me coming from a dead author sitting at a 5-star resort was not a new message, but a reaffirming one—one I return to regularly. And “… If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)

“But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder,                                           because of the grace given me by God,” (Romans 15:15)