Loved Before You Do Anything

The sun is up, and the world is asking for your hands again. You feel the old panic rising—the secret terror that if you ever stop being useful, the love will stop too.

That you are only safe as long as you are serving. But look at the light coming through the window.

It does not work for its place in the sky. It simply is.

And because it is, it is loved by the dawn. You were not made to earn your keep.

You were made to be known. The father in the story did not wait for the son to get a job before he ran to meet him.

He ran while the boy was still empty-handed. Still useless by the world's math.

Your worth is not a wage you collect at the end of the day. It is a gift given before you wake up.

Put down the burden of proving you deserve to be here. The light loves you not for what you do, but for who you are when you do nothing at all.