This morning, I was scrolling through our Facebook news feed, looking for a post from my kid’s school principal, when a couple of items caught my eye. The first one was from a female, who’s name I didn’t recognize, and it said something about not feeling beautiful enough. I assumed that this was probably from a girl my kids go to school with, and I thought about how sad it was that she would feel this way about herself. As a man with a mom, a sister, a wife and daughters, I know far too many women who battle self-image issues, and I hate the messages that our culture sends to them. Unfortunately, without knowing this girl, there wasn’t really anything I could say, so I said a little prayer and moved on.
Further down the news feed I encountered another post, from this same person, that said that she felt “worthless”, and a sense of urgency began to well up in me. I couldn’t help but conclude that this girl was crying out for help, and I wondered if she had anyone in her life who was looking out for her well-being. When I checked to see if anyone had commented on her status, I noticed that 4 people had “liked” the post, and that really confused me. What exactly does “liking” that status mean. Is it, “Yeah, I feel worthless too”, or “Yeah, you are worthless”, or “I like that you’re feeling worthless”, or was it something else? Of all the responses I could have to that message, hitting the “like” button seemed to be the last thing I would consider.
Not knowing what to do, I tried to write some words of encouragement to this person. Of course, I realize that flowery words from a complete stranger may not make much of a difference, but I couldn’t bring myself to do nothing. After I hit “Post”, I thought of some other things I meant to say, so I’ve revised that message below. And while it was originally written with this hurting girl in mind, I offer it to anyone who is struggling to see the beauty and value of who they were made to be.
One night, long ago, your Creator was stirred in His heart, and that stirring became His inspiration to create you. He formed you with His very own hands, and with painstaking detail He fashioned your heart. There is nothing about your being that is a mistake or an oversight; each part of you was created with intent and purpose. Who you were made to be is not just the accumulation of past experiences, good or bad. You were made to be a reflection of the heart of your Creator, and as such, there is something of Him that is uniquely revealed in you. His light and life can show through you in a way that can be expressed by no other creation. If you do not become who He made you to be, there is an aspect of Him that the world might never see. You are a one of a kind, unique across all of time, and irreplaceable. When He was done forming you, He sat back and admired His work. He still does. He knit you together in your mother’s womb; He created your inner most being; all the days ordained for you were written in His book, before one of them came to pass. You are His workmanship. Only He knows the real you, and it is only through Him that we can come to understand who we were made to be. He yearns for you to find all the good things that He wove into your being; He yearns for you to know the truth about you, and about Him. You are significant because you were made in His image, and He’s destined you to return to Him.
If you will let Him, He will touch others through you. There may well be people in your future who will need your help in order to reach their destiny. You may be their lifeline at some point. Don’t let today’s discouragement keep you from arriving at that moment. God has plans for you – plans to give you hope and a future!
Bjcorbin's Blog 
Thought for the Day – “Cut Him in Two”
Posted in Commentaries, Opinions, Thought for the Day / Quotes, tagged jealousy, King Solomon, unyielding on February 24, 2016| Leave a Comment »
In the first book of Kings, chapter 3 (verses 16-27), there is a story about two women, who lived in the same house, and who both had babies of similar age. One night, one of the women inadvertently rolls over on her baby, killing it; and so she sneaks into the other woman’s room and exchanges her dead baby for the other woman’s live baby. When this second woman wakes up in the morning, she sees the dead baby in her bed, but quickly realizes that it’s not her child. Both women eventually wind up before King Solomon, claiming that the living baby is theirs. Upon hearing their story, the King proposes the simple solution of cutting the baby in two, and giving each woman half. At hearing this, one of the women concedes the fight, while the other says, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”
From their reaction, King Solomon deduces that the woman who wasn’t willing to allow the child to be destroyed was the real mother, but my concern is with this other woman. It’s hard for me to fathom what allowed her to justify that destroying the child was somehow a better solution than yielding her position. Maybe she was jealous that the other woman still had her baby, or maybe she couldn’t accept that she was no longer a mother, or maybe she was afraid of what people might think of her, or maybe she was filled with regret over the way her baby perished, or maybe she was offended that God allowed this to happen… And while this story may seem rather extreme, I see situations like this all the time. People who claim to love their family, but who would rather cut it in two than to yield their position. Parents who claim to love their children, but who are willing to rip them apart rather than yield their position. People who claim to treasure relationships, but who would rather sever them than to yield their position. People who claim to be a body of believers, but who would rather split apart than to yield their position.
I am not suggesting that there aren’t legitimate reasons for some relationships and/or situations to come apart. But I am saying that we need to be careful that we don’t become like the woman in this story; so entrenched in our position (e.g. jealousy, insecurity, woundedness, regret, offense) that we are willing to facilitate the destruction of the very thing we claim to care for.
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