You Can Be Loved. (From My Personal E-Mail Inbox.)

It must have been "a God thing" when I received this in my e-mail inbox this evening. I've been having one of those weeks, where nothing I do can ever seem to measure up and meet my own rather irrational expectations. When I dig deeper inside, I see that, inside the void in the pit of my stomach, is actually a little girl who desperately needs and wants to be loved unconditionally- no strings attached, no hidden motives or agendas.

Typically, I must admit, I will see the "FW:" (forward) in an e-mail subject line... and immediately delete it, without even clicking to find out what the message says. I just get too much "spam mail" these days- as do most of us, I'm assuming, right? But this one happened to call me to open it, and I'm actually glad I did.

So... with no further ado:
Here is said e-mail (originally written by Jen Lemen), with much love and thanks to my friend Ali.


You can be loved...

• even if you are not perfect
• even if you don’t know the answer
• even if you are horribly confused
• even if you can’t make anyone feel better
• even if you don’t know how to make yourself well
• even if you made a mistake
• even if you don’t know how to be
• even if you are ashamed
• even if you are hopeless
• even if you don’t quite fit in
• even if you are scared
• even if you are lonely
• even if you shouldn’t be having such a hard time right now
• even if you don’t think so
• even if you haven’t found your place yet
• even if you aren’t proud of yourself
• even if no one has really seen you before
• even if you don’t know what to do
• even if you try too hard
• even if you’re disappointed
• even if you don’t really like yourself right now
• even if you are beyond good advice
• even if you don’t know how to cry
• even if you think this must be meant for someone other than you