We read in Acts 17:28: ‘In Him we live and move and have our being…’
‘Belonging’ is a very powerful word; it is the deepest human experience. The human heart was made to belong. We are hard-wired for connection, belonging, love. Where we belong largely shapes and gives meaning to our lives; where we belong, largely determines our contentment and happiness and joy in living. Where we belong is ultimately where we can truly be ourselves, belong to ourselves.
What we fear most is the thought of not belonging, of being disconnected. Observe how we hide or reject or suppress what we think does not belong. Shame comes from something that is deeply flawed in us, something in our makeup or personality that is deemed unacceptable, an unredeemable mistake; something that makes us unworthy and permanently excluded. That sense of permanent exclusion is hell and hellish. Life then becomes an excruciating struggle to keep up appearances.