Monday, April 13, 2015

That One Lie We All Believe


Sometime or another in everyone's life we fall for those life-shaking lies:

I do not belong

I am not cool

I am unloved.

It could come from something as small as an icy-eyed glare or a social media comment to something as big as losing a friendship, but wherever it comes from, it is a L I E.
Spring photo shoot = blast


Over and over God tells us that we are loved. We are special. We are cool. We are His. So why is it so hard to trust Him? Isn't that enough?

Not so long ago, I was trying to balance with my schedule and fit in time to take care of some little kids while their mom was in surgury and help another friend who needed me. That is when it first hit me. 
Maybe I am not always loved but... 

I   A M   N E E D E D



So in those moments when you feel lonely and hated, I promise one thing: you are needed. 

Your family needs you. Your friends need you.  The world needs you.

(And being needed is sort of the same thing as being loved even if the people that need you don't always see that)


Somewhere in my whirlwind of thoughts, my Sunday School teacher popped into my head.


She made a ginormous impact on me at a young age. When I was little, for some reason, she took notice of me. 
She taught me how to care.


She would take me out to dinner every once in a while. After she picked me up in her big black car, we would go to my favorite cafe and sit on the high bar stools because I thought they were cool. When we finished dinner, she took me to the Grocery Store and let me pick out my favorite candy. 


In her car on the way back home, I told her stories. Long never-ending stories. She would sit there and listen as if they were the most beautiful stories she had ever heard. And they weren't. But she made me beleive they were. 
The only story I actually remember was one called "Why We Have Belly Buttons." It had something to do with God poking stomachs with a stick. Don't ask! My point is: they were crazy stories. I am not sure how she could listen, but she always did. 
She sat. 
She listened.
She cared.
Where would I be today if she hadn't? Maybe I would have given up creating storied altogether.


One year for the annual church talent show, my Sunday school teacher and I played an "Edelweiss" duet together and I sang. As a little girl, I felt so honored to play with her.


What I did not realize then and only noticed in a home video I watched many years later, was that during our performance there were sparkling tears slipping down her cheek.


So even if you are just taking a little girl out to dinner, you could be changing a life. Even if you are just listening, just being there for someone: 
You are needed.
You are   L O V E D.


~storyteller



8 comments:

  1. WOW! I LOVE the spring photos! There beautiful taken!

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  2. Thank you! Yayayayay! XD Sorry...it has been so long since someone has commented. I got so excited to see your comment!

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  3. Very true! We are needed, even if we don't feel loved! Love the spring pics!! :-)

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    1. Thanks! :) (Sorry that I didn't respond sooner.)

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  4. On a recent, beautiful (though rainy!) spring day while working from home on my computer, a certain blog was brought to my attention. I must admit, blogs are not my thing - mainly for fear I'd get hooked reading my friends' blogs and never getting anything else done! But this one really caught my eye as it was written by a beautiful young friend of mine whom I've know since she was a baby (could that truly be 16 years ago?!) The title of her most recent entry "That One Lie We All Believe" couldn't go unread. The more I read, the more I wept. When I finished reading, I bowed my head and thanked the Lord for this precious child of His, the one who had written these powerful thoughts, this young friend who had NO IDEA..... No idea that at the time she thought she was being ministered to by her Sunday school teacher that, in fact, SHE was the one ministering to her teacher/older friend. What a joy she brought to that teacher! Dinner was fun and enjoyable, but those stories...... They were magnificent!! They showed an imagination, a bright mind, a creative spirit, a love of life! They really WERE the most beautiful stories the older friend had ever heard! (especially the Belly Button one ;-) During a time the older friend was struggling with some particularly harsh job-related issues, this younger friend was a bright ray of sunshine, an encouragement to her teacher in ways she was not aware. God sometimes sends people in our lives at just the right time - whether young or old - that remind us of His love for us. That we are loved. We are needed. I am quite certain, Maddie, that as you were playing the "Edelweiss" duet with your teacher that SHE was the one who felt honored to be playing that duet with YOU. Why had you chosen her and not one of your young friends or one of the cool teenagers at church to play that duet with you? I'm also quite certain those tears you saw on video years later were tears of joy - of God's goodness to His people, of hearing the sweet and beautiful notes being sung by her precious young friend who was - AND STILL IS - dear to her heart. You are L O V E D. (and those high bar stools WERE cool!)

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    1. Wow! Your comment is the most beautiful that I have ever had. Thank you so much for everything you have done for me. I wrote this having no idea you would actually get to read it until later my mom told me she sent it to you! Thank you! I miss you!

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  5. You are right and that helps me because I do try hard to help my friends and I am needed by them. I have to go right now and call a friend in B'ham because this is her birthday.

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