This picture shows the tomatoes that grew this summer in the vicarage garden, all 3.2kg of them! The tomato plants weren't trying to be fruitful, plants in the right conditions just are fruitful.

Human beings need the right conditions too. For us it is needing to know we are loved. Being loved means being enough, being accepted. In those conditions we thrive. We can try and earn love and acceptance in all sorts of ways from all sorts of relationships, contriving to create perfect conditions through our best efforts. Sometimes that produces mixed results.

God's loving acceptance of us is unconditional. Jesus made that totally clear in His life, teaching and death on the cross. We need simply and humbly to accept that we are accepted, in order to be in the perfect conditions. That is the meaning of amazing grace! 

So as we head into new schools, jobs, or face the same old grind we might take a moment to breath slowly and thank God for loving us whatever our story may be. And since God loves us, we can be confident that we are worth loving. God's love provides us with the conditions we need to be fruitful people. So we can strive less, and accept we are accepted more.