Jesus came not so God would see or love us differently but so we could see and love God in a fresh way. Jesus offers Nicodemus and us the renewal of our eyes and hearts, our mouths and minds, where we experience wholeness simply because God holds all the pieces together.
Our new birth in God doesn’t require that we leave behind who we used to be. God uses that, integrating it into the fresh creation we are now. Like the potter who takes the same clay and refashions a new creation (Jeremiah 18), God made our essence good. We simply need to relax into a formless shape in God’s hands, trusting the Spirit to mold us.
Franciscan priest Richard Rohr states in his book Falling Upward: Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, “Salvation is sin turned on its head and used in our favor” (60). God doesn’t judge or jettison who we’ve been. God’s redeeming hands take those parts, transforming what once held us back into something with which we can bless others.
I painted a picture for my niece with a heart in the canvas’s center. Within the heart, the viewer sees both light and dark colors. In my note to my niece that accompanied the painting, I told her that each one of us holds light and shadow within us, and we need both. All we experience, all we are, coalesce in shaping us. It’s challenging to embrace a wholehearted life; but when we do, we experience rebirth and wholeness.
Perfection is not being flawless but being whole.