God loved you before you were born, and God will love you after you die. In Scripture, God says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” This is a very fundamental truth of your identity. This is who you are whether you feel it or not. You belong to God from eternity to eternity. Life is just a little opportunity for you during a few years to say, 'I love you, too.'"  Henri Nouwen

This truth is so simple but so crucial to our self-identity. It is a given that is not necessarily always received. My identity is given to me, not earned. I am who I am by grace and not self-made. My journey is to embrace, to reach my full potential and to respond. What is my full potential? To love as I am loved. To love God with my whole mind, heart and strength and to love others with the love I have been given. At the end of my life's journey nothing else really matters.