Parents, psychologists and management strategists have realised for some time that people function best in an environment of encouragement and support. Both adults and children blossom when who they are and what they do is affirmed and appreciated. If our fumbling humanity has stumbled upon the benefits of seeing the good in people, you can be assured that our all-knowing, all-powerful God has been possessed of this wisdom, and for quite some time.

We can trust, therefore, that God sees and concentrates on the good in us and he knows of that there is goodness within us because he is responsible for it being there. His presence within each one of us is an invitation to share in his life and love and to become the "very goodness of God".

In our becoming, in our growing into this goodness, God will stay faithful to us, even in the midst of all our stumbling and bumbling. God began his good work in us and he will see his work finished.

We focus so readily on our faults and failings and our reasons for doing so are well intentioned: we want to be better people. Can you shift your focus this week and recognise your own goodness, however limited it may seem to you. Can you find joy in the realisation that God is alive and at work in you?