Some of you may be familiar already with the work of Canadian song-writer Alanis Morissette.  I was not until recently.  This song expresses the universal human longing to be loved unconditionally, to feel the consolation that beneath all our imperfections and failures there is something good about us. A stickler would demand definition of terms at this point, “What is good.”  “There is no one good but God,” etc.  Bracket all that for a moment and listen to this cry of the heart–maybe your own heart.  In an interview Alanis said she wrote this song as a prayer.  I’m thankful we have a Father who made us and sees us as we are, and loves us always.  We have a Savior who can help us to be the person we are longing to be, and to shape our longings too.  And we have the Blessed Holy Spirit building communities in which to grow, struggle, show our battle scars, and even reap the bitter fruit of seeds we sowed long ago, in safety.

A live version