Am I significant?

Am I significant? From the rejection of most people who I work with each day, I don't appear to be. When I try to say something at a meeting my thoughts are unimportant. I can be speaking in mid sentence and be interrupted by another person without the courtesy of being allowed to finish my thoughts. No one has ever returned to me and asked me to finish what I was saying. One team member has yet to acknowledge me 20 days into the New Year, yet he has been to every other person's office at least once.

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One evening following an argument with one of my sons, I came out of my room and found that all of my family had taken advantage of that opportune moment to leave. I came out of my room and found the house completely empty. My son no longer talks to me as a result.

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When I go out of town to visit with those in another location that I am assigned to work with, I typically enter an office and begin visiting with that person. Yet, as is often the case, another person enters the same office and even though I may be speaking they turn to the other person and begin a discussion with them completely cutting me off with no thought of wondering if that bothers me.

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I am broken and flawed. I have a temper, I am short on patience. In summary, I am a mess. Messy is the word that can be used to describe my life. I am unwanted and not liked. I am not significant enough to bother with. I am not worth listening to. I have no redeeming value to most of those around me. I would be abandoned if others could make that call. They would throw me out of the car and leave me standing by the side of the road while they raced off abandoning me there.

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Recently, we went to an animal shelter to look at dogs that were available for adoption. As we walked into the shelter the animals stood up in their little cages and wagged their tails in anticipation that we would give them some attention. Their eyes spoke of brokenness. They were unwanted and so desired to get out of the little cages holding them and run free. I could relate to them. I had empathy for their hurt. One young dog caught our attention because she was similar to the dog we had recently laid to rest after 14 years in our family. She gazed at us deeply and wagged her tail with dignity. She wanted us, but wouldn't get too excited lest we decide on another. We selected her, and she knows the joy of being wanted.

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Am I significant? Most of the people around will say no. If I were in the cage and stood up and called to them they would gaze my way, but move on. I know the hurt of not being selected. But....There is a God who made me who says otherwise. He reminds me that He made me. I have not grown into the way He planned me, yet He will not leave me in the cage. I am broken, chipped, hurting, and sad. Yet He still takes me. Why? What does He see that most people around me cannot see? Why would the Creator even care? Surely a majority opinion counts for something doesn't it? Surprisingly, He says no. His thought of me is independent of everyone else, and He will take the broken pieces and make my life into something beautiful.

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My Father, I have listened too much now to the thoughts of those around me. I have wanted to be accepted by everyone except you. Please forgive me. I need your presence in my life now more than ever. I am significant, because you do not make trash. You, Father formed me and breathed life into me. Oh Father, I belong to you. I have been claimed by the blood of your beloved son. Help me, oh Father to reach out to you each day. Help me to leave these painful feelings at the cross so that I am no longer burdened by them. Redeem my life father for your glory. If you can redeem me then there is hope for every other person in this world. Let gratitude flow out of my life each day for your love. Hold me Father for I am crying and need your comfort. Just like our dog Sierra, the door to my cage has been opened and you reached in with your powerful yet gentle hands and pulled me out to yourself. Thank you. I have forgotten. Please work on my memory to forget the pain and hurt caused by others and to fix my focus on you. Thank you for loving me.

Do We Even Care?

The story of the woman who was bent over and unable to straighten up in Luke 13:10-17, clearly contrasts the difference between God caring for us and our not caring for others. Jesus was in the process of teaching on a sabbath, when the woman walked into the synagogue. How telling that even in her condition, she seems to not be angry at God and she seems to not blame God for her physical condition, because she still went to the synagogue to worship Him. And Jesus noticed.

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Now it would have been easy for anyone to notice her, because she walked in such a way that it would have caught anyone's eye. Why? Because that is not how people are supposed to look. They are to stand upright not bent over, so we would have seen her situation and felt some sadness for her, because after all that is not the way it is supposed to be. Then we would have recognized our powerlessness and her powerlessness to do anything about ther condition and probably shrugged our shoulders and said there but for the grace of God........

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The text says that Jesus was teaching and I presume he was telling his audience some truth about his Father, when he noticed the woman. So, he called her over and said to her, "Woman you are loosed from your infirmity", and she was able to stand upright. This healing clearly shows to us that God cares. She was a person who accepted her condition and still chose to worship God and as a result, He "fixed" her.

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Now contrast this to the reaction of the other people in the synagogue. The ruler of the synagogue stands up and says, "there are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the sabbath day." Huh? Who has the power to heal? Does man, or does God? No man alive could do anything to help this woman. We are powerless in this situation. So if she should happen to be healed, then it must be an act of God, and wouldn't that be cause for us to rejoice with her?

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The rulers statement is incredulous. A healing took place in his presence and he was irritated. Why? He was irritated, because he placed greater emphasis on a day than he placed on a person's need. But Jesus action reminds us that people should always be our priority. People need healing 7 days a week, and when we recognize such a need we stop what we are doing and do what our Father calls on us to do. At the time, Jeus was teaching, but the lesson was not more important that this woman's need, so he stopped and let God work through him. We must always be alert to the needs around us, and when God causes us to recognize a need then we are to stop what we are doing and allow our Father to work through us to heal that person.

The woman in the story may have been anonymous to those around her, but she was important to her Father and he healed her. Do we even care?