Seen by the Beloved

Close your eyes gently. Imagine yourself standing in the temple before the form of your chosen deity, or seated in front of the small image at the home shrine. Now, instead of looking at the deity, allow yourself to be looked at. Receive their gaze. The eyes you imagine are not measuring you, not weighing your good and bad, only loving you, completely, the way a mother looks at a sleeping child. Do not deserve it. Do not earn it. Simply receive it. There is no part of you the gaze does not reach. Sit there until the looking finishes its quiet work.