"He's Not My Boyfriend."

When I asked Millie if she liked that handsome dog, Max, she pretended like she was sleeping and didn't know what I was talking about. But I saw the way she looked at him - she thought he was a handsome dog whom she wished to know better. I wasn't fooled by her denial. Sometimes it's embarrassing to admit our true feelings. We're afraid we will look foolish if our feelings are not returned. Maybe others will believe us unworthy of forming such an attachment - that we're out of our league. Then there are the times we don't want to admit we follow Jesus. I mean, does anyone want to quickly get thrown into the camp of being hateful and intolerant if we admit we have faith in God? God first loved us. Each of us. He never will reject our attachment to Him. We can't ever truly be worthy of the love of the Great God of the universe, but He extends Grace to us, through His son, and through Him we become worthy. Yet, we panic. We distance ourselves from stereotypes. We don't want to be rejected by others, even though God will not reject us. God understands that. Peter no sooner finished telling Jesus how he'd never deny him when he was scared by a teen age girl and said he didn't know Jesus. He even tried to look cool by throwing a few swear words in to the conversation. We fail. We fail others, we fail ourselves. Do we fail God? Or does he know we are imperfect, and doesn't view it as failure at all? Run back to Him. Don't quit. Don't be afraid. Don't even be ashamed. With Him, there is no condemnation.