If you follow the daily biblical readings in the Liturgy of the Word for the Catholic Church, you will see that today’s reading from John’s first letter includes the most straightforward, and in some ways complete, explanation of God that there is:
God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God, and God in him. ~ 1 John 4:16
There are many logical and thorough explanations of God’s existence, but in my opinion, the thorough logic of them limits them when we’re trying to talk about something limitless. The explanation in John’s letter beats them all, and is the best explanation of not only God’s existence, but the existence of everything, including ourselves.
When we understand that God is love, we can then see that the natural world is basically built for love. It contains not only the things that support us in growing, flourishing, and prospering, but also contains the patterns for that growth, flourishing, and prospering. Even when we look at our own selves in terms of our physiology and various systems within our bodies, we can see that we are literally wired for love. It didn’t have to be this way, but it is. Love is the big “why” for it all.
This article starts with a photo I took yesterday of a very good example that you can see now around our location in Central Minnesota. In the photo, you see a small oak tree with a round growth on it. That round growth is called a gall. The tree itself creates the gall when insects lay their eggs in the leaves or branches. To quote one explanation, “The tree wraps the hatching larvae in this protective, nourishing capsule.” It may be a stretch to say that the oak tree loves the larvae, but can you see the underlying pattern of regeneration, growth, protection, and nourishment? Those are natural patterns, they’re pervasive in the natural world, and reflect a world created through, with, and in love.
Think of how precious you are. You were born because you fulfill the need of the universe for you. There is only one you. There was never anyone else like you, and there will never be anyone else like you. Why not understand that about yourself and put that truth into your plans for the day, every day?
My Polish-American grandfather “Baba” had survived the Great Depression and many adventures, and as a result he had a lot of his own original wisdom sayings…sometimes very original…and one of them was, “When you get something nice, you take care of it.” As much as my grandfather was speaking from the deprivations of the Great Depression (“we were happy just to get any scrap thrown away by the butcher”), the saying is a good piece of advice for life. When it comes to ourselves, we have been given something very nice – our own existence and its capacity to give love and receive love. Why wouldn’t we take care of something that nice: ourselves?
In our world, there are powerful and unrelenting efforts to distract us from our true selves and from the love that is integrated into the natural world and even our own being. One of the most important things we can do is simply see the distractions as distractions, and become more aware that love is the true basis of our being, and actually all being. Once you reach that awareness, you are really onto the game and are starting to see things as they truly are, including yourself.
When you look in the mirror, you shouldn’t see a pawn in someone else’s grand game, or a cog locked into place for a machine that spits out things that are here today and gone tomorrow. You should see yourself as a living, breathing, walking, precious participant in a plan for love that goes well beyond cosmic proportions. That may sound like a lot to you right now because the competing messaging has been hard on you for a very long time — but all that time and messaging getting into your head to distract and redefine you never did change the truth about you.
See yourself truly today. Take yourself seriously. Reconnect with the love that has always been there for you and always will be.
Please share these words with someone who needs them today.
This article is an original work of the author and was not composed by or with artificial intelligence (AI). The author is solely responsible for the contents of this article and the opinions and perspectives expressed in the article are solely those of the author. © 2026 Thomas Delaney. All rights reserved.
Live and Forgive 