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         We danced long before the midnight chime. I was yours, and you were Mine, and what precious togetherness we felt! But then, like the famed Cinderella, you dashed out of My arms and down the stairs and away, afraid that the midnight chime would bring you total exposure and total humiliation, afraid to be found in My arms so naked, so destitute, so nothing.
         What I try to show you is that I love you because you are you, and not because of your talents or because of anything you can do for Me. I gave My life for you! There's nothing you can really do to repay that, and I'm not asking you for repayment. I'm asking you for gratitude. I'm asking you for praise and thankfulness. I'm asking you for love.
         So will you face Me and cling to Me past the midnight chime? Will you stay past the crucial point, that turning point in your life when you must either turn to Me and confess that you are nothing and that I am your all in all, or will you run away and try to uphold your frivolous shams? Which will it be? Can you not accept My love?
         Stop thinking that you must be lovely for Me to love you. You are so unlovely in your sight, but you are beautiful in My sight! Stop thinking that the mirror is the way to judge how you're doing with Me and how you're doing with others. People need to be loved, they need an understanding heart and outgoing concern. You can give them that, and that will be more to them than any physical beauty you could ever give, or any intelligent thoughts and ideas you could ever offer.
         The beauties of the Spirit are what matter most: the tenderness of the heart, the humility of the spirit, the meekness. These are the things I want to bring out in your life. This is what I ask of you before the midnight chime. Will you still be Mine?



Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family