In nearly every social situation in my life, I used to find myself a misfit. There are various reasons for it, some which I have yet to discover, but whatever the causes, I have often felt unloved.
One summer vacation, I was feeling worthless—that I didn’t love as I should. I wondered if I even loved myself. I would take flowers from the kitchen table vase and pluck off the petals one by one, saying, “I love me… I love me not…”
In church Sunday morning, I heard the voice of God inside me saying, “I love you.” I knew God loved me. But was that really enough?
I left church early and stood out front, thinking of things I had heard inside. I bowed my head in shame.
God said, “Open your eyes.”
In front of me grew a single morning glory, with one single petal all the way around.
God said, “I love you.”
It was enough.
(Desktop published in Enlarging the Tent: Poetry and Prose by Robin Layne, 2000 and 2011. Copyright 2000 by Robin Layne Wilkinson. All rights reserved.)
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