On October 3, 2014 I wrote a post that hoped to follow with an additional post at least one time every other day. I have missed that goal but I promise to strive for more frequent posts as we move forward.

Before I begin the story of my life – my beginning – I want to offer some words of wisdom written by an extraordinary communicator, colleague, and friend as an introduction to the beginning of my story. These words have provided comfort for me on numerous occasions – so I offer them with deep gratitude for their author Robert Ball.*

Human beings are of unconditional and incomparable worth. We all affirm it, but we don’t believe it, especially not about ourselves. We want to matter. That need is unrelenting within us because the truth of the universe is that we do matter. To matter and to know it and to live it are our birthright, our authenticity, our hope. More than anything else in the world, we want to matter – and we do. But we fear that we do not. So we spend our lives in futility of trying to prove something that is already true but that we don’t really believe. Furthermore, the reality that we matter is something that cannot be proven. It is, finally, a matter of faith. The only way to know that we matter is to believe that we are capable and loved. What I felt when I looked at my sleeping kids is a reflection of eternal truth, a breakthrough from the world of fear to the world of love. Those experiences were small, recurring reminders of the way God feels about every human being in the whole world. The “good news” of the gospel is that God loves and values every person in the world. We are all unconditionally and eternally loved and precious to God – capable, needed, important, forgiven, valued, wanted (15-16).

Now I am ready to begin to tell you the story of my beginning . . .

*Ball, Robert. Walking on Water: Self-Esteem and a Journey of Faith. Palo Alto, CA: Science and Behavior Books, Inc., 1992.