Always Accepted

“Knowing that we can be loved exactly as we are gives us all the best opportunity for

growing into the healthiest of people.”

– Fred Rogers

(1928-2003) Children's Television Host

There is a great need in our world that is becoming more and more challenging as time goes by.  This problem has cause many to give up on their dreams and settle for lives of mere existence.  The old desire to become something special has turned into a belief that you are not special at all, and for some, they feel as if they were a mistake that needs to be corrected.  This problem is the feeling that we are unacceptable as we are.

                The reason that people feel unacceptable are far too deep and involved to be covered in a mere blog.  Let's just say that our disregard for human life, our acceptance of defeat in our dreams and the constant teaching that no one is special but all are the same are key factors.  All of these claims are also totally untrue and baseless.

                In coaching you may often find a person who has a desire to succeed in the dream, however, they are not sure if it is even right to succeed.  We have come to see success as sinful or wrong.  That if we become all we are capable of becoming we will not longer be pleasing to God (Whose love we already question) and therefore cast aside. 

                It is a sadly common scenario that people strive to please a God who they believe they can never please.  They want to do right but always feel they fail and that God is angry, displeased and has rejected them.  Those who embrace this kind of thinking will never succeed in anything they do.

                As a coach, help your clients and all those who you have the ability to deal with, that God's love is pure, full and unconditional.  Not only does He love us enough to give His only Son to pay for our sins, but He loves us just the way we are.  The road to achievement requires many changes in our life.  Success comes through hard work and strategic planning.  However, the one thing in life we do not have to work at is our acceptance before God.

                Some think that by accepting that God loves us just as we are and that we never have to, or can, earn His love and approval means we will sin and not care that we do.  The opposite is true.  Those who believe they are deeply loved and accepted by God are those who walk upright before Him in love and devotion.  If you always have to earn acceptance, you soon give up.  It is in God's love that we have the power to be just who He made us to be.

                There is no healthier state than knowing that you are always accepted for who you are.  God has great plans for your life and there will be many changes and you will work very hard to achieve them, but you will never have to work at being accepted by Him.  That is a given to those who claim to be His.  That is real success.

                You matter to the world.  You are here to make a difference and that difference is good.  Remember the qualities of a real success-minded person: Be your best.  Love God.  Have good manners. Discover the unknown.  Change the world.

John Patrick Hickey is an author, speaker, and Life Coach. To read more from John Patrick Hickey or to get his books, training and book him to speak to your church, business or group, visit our website at http://www.growthcenter.net or www.johnpatrickhickey.com.   © 2014 John Patrick Hickey