Being Grounded

     In my spare time, one of the things I do is help out as a youth leader for my church.  In this role I get to meet and connect with lots of youth and parents from both inside the church and around Winnipeg. We recently had a leader retreat in which we talked about how to better improve our program.  It's an interesting question.  As leaders, how can we share the love of Christ with the youth who come through our doors?  As we discussed how to do this in one of our sessions, the idea kept coming up of being grounded in God -- the idea being that if we're not basking in God's love for us, then it is impossible for us to show that love to others.  

     I know for myself that this is hard sometimes.  It's so easy to forget that your ultimate worth as a human being doesn't come from anything you do, but rather comes from the fact that God, the creator, loves you.  When I rely on my own efforts to show love to others, I can often fail.  But if all I'm trying to do is reflect the love God has for me, then I can be loving.
     The thing is, I don't think this grounding should be an obligation.  Instead, it should give us great strength to know that our lives are not solely up to us -- we can draw on God for strength.  We are grounded in God when we let go of any negative energy, and focus instead on the positive loving force of God.