Just The Way You Are

Don't go changing, to try and please me
You never let me down before
Don't imagine you're too familiar
And I don't see you anymore
I would not leave you in times of trouble
We never could have come this far
I took the good times, I'll take the bad times
I'll take you just the way you are

Don't go trying some new fashion
Don't change the color of your hair
You always have my unspoken passion
Although I might not seem to care

I don't want clever conversation
I never want to work that hard
I just want someone that I can talk to
I want you just the way you are.

I need to know that you will always be
The same old someone that I knew
What will it take 'till you believe in me
The way that I believe in you.

I said I love you and that's forever
And this I promise from my heart
I couldn't love you any better
I love you just the way you are.

Song Lyrics By Billy Joel 

**This clever and heart-felt song has been a favorite of mine for years. Thought of usually as a love song from one lover to another, it does have deeper spiritual meaning when you consider such a conversation with the Divine.  Ignatian Spirituality teaches that none of us have everything "sorted out" in our lives and that God truly accepts, loves and even celebrates us as we are.  I would also add that in my meditation of this truth that God does not only accept, love and celebrate us as we are, but also as we were and as we are becoming.  Arrival Theologians (people who are convinced they have arrived spiritually, or are continually in pursuit of such arrival) fall into a performance trap that leads to an appearance of peace while a continual war is active in their mind and heart.  It is comforting when one stops performing for God and allows the Divine to saran-aid such a melody of "I love you just the way you are."  God's love surpasses and overshadows our mood swings, our behavior (good or bad) and even our limited view of past, present and future.  You don't stop and let God love you, such Divine love just is.  The more aware we are of this the more capable we are of loving others in the same light.