Sometimes when I'm dissatisfied with myself and my shortcomings, I remember a story that I read that was written by, Norman Vincent Peale.

The  story is about Arthur Caliandro, a minister at Norman Peale's church in New York. Dr. Peale said, " Rev. Caliandro has a summer place in Maine that he dearly loves.  One late summer evening when he was out alone in his small boat, a magnificent sunset flamed in the western  sky. Not one with varied colors; this one was pure gold.  To the west of him, everything seemed dipped in molten gold; the sky, the passing boats, even the circling gulls.

To the west, the calm surface of the bay was also a sheet of burnished gold, and impulsively he raced his boat toward it, trying to immerse himself in such a stupendous display of beauty. But it did not matter how fast he went, the gold always receded just in front of him. Beneath and behind him, the water was dark and his boat never quite seemed to come out of the shadows.

Later, when he got home, he said to his wife Gloria, "Did you see that sunset? It was awe-inspiring."

"Yes," she said, "I watched you in your boat. And you know, from here everything about you was radiant.  It was as if you and the boat were drenched in gold."

When I think of this story, I think that perhaps when God looks at me, a fallible human being, the power of His love is so strong that in His sight the shadows fade away, and I am drenched in gold of His glory.  Then I find out that my shortcomings are not so bad after all.

Today, do not worry about things that could have been, or that is going to be.  Just know that God looks on us as His special children.  He does not judge us or look at our faults.  He just stretches His arms out to us, and says, My child you are loved and blessed.