You are needed.
Your rosy colored lives or white-wall perfection can create a legacy of hope and fellowship.
How much time do we waste prepping for photographic memories of perfected families and smiles? What kind of useless items do we have displayed in our homes as hospitality welcomes in a comparison of whose house has the best slogans plastered on the walls? How many social media posts do we like and comment on in order to get affirmation in our mundane existence so that we feel important?
We are missing the whole wide world by living in a bubble of self-made people. We need to stop staring out the window daydreaming of how much more perfection we can pretend to display across the faces of our lives.
There are many people just right outside of our circles who are trying to reach the coat tails flapping behind our weekly coffee dates and wine sipping parties. We don’t see their flustered brows or hurting eyes because we are too busy trying to cover up our own imperfections. They try to reach out, but their just don’t pass the interview process that gets them into the clique.
People are hurting and we are dismissing them over there lack of trendy wares and because they aren’t quite up on their binge watching of the top five shows. Their children struggle with grades, their churches aren’t mega, jobs aren’t providing large homes, and their Postpartum Depression was one time too many.
They need you. I need you, because I am one of them. I would venture to guess that you may have been one of them at some point as well. Who reached out to you? We need to pay that forward.
Proverbs 27:17
Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.
Instead of pushing past the new mom at small group, over-looking the quiet neighbor down the street or dismissing the struggling woman at the coffee shop, as sisters in Christ we should be looking to open up to conversation with others. We can’t build each other up in faith if we are too self-indulged in fancy planners.
Ecclesiastes 4:9
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.
As we labor along the road to friendships and community, we must not leave behind those who need us the most. We need to open our eyes to the needs of those around us without the fear of missed playdates or the church gossip hour. Priorities need to be readjusted and thoughtfulness needs to replace our busyness.
We can extend our hands to the new girl who just needs a reprieve and words of affirmation. The Lord has poured down so much grace on us and now we should take the time to live it out loud in our walk.
We can't build each other up in faith if we are too self-indulged in fancy planners. Click To Tweet
This post comes from the 20 Days of Devotionals series.
Great message! We do need to reach out more to each other in love. Thanks for sharing on the #LMMLinkup.
It is sad that Christians can be so guilty – of dismissing and looking past and being caught up in our events and agendas. But we have all been there., Thanks for a poignant reminder. We do not have to look far or long in order to reach out!
The harvest is ripe, but the workers are few. How will they hear, if there is not a preacher? We are the preachers, beginning inside our homes and moving outwards to our neighbors, family, friends, churchmates, and others.
I agree. We need to reach out to others instead of closing ourselves off from them with phones and perfection.
You are so right. Even as Christians, we are guilty of not treating every person with love and compassion. I am guilty, and I pray the Holy Spirit will help me overcome my desire to separate people based on how they look, smell, talk, etc. God bless you.
All of us need words of affirmation. I try to build others up and reach out so that other people’s lives aren’t so hard.
You addressed and important topic here! We should take courage, and always be open and keep trying……. Thank you for the sweetness Maryann.
You are right on point. Three hours ago, I was telling a friend how we can deny ourselves opportunities when we minimize interactions. Actually, it’s never like the other needs us, we also need them in some way only that our comfort tends to give us some peace of mind. Thank you for this beautiful reminder.
Thanks for sharing these truths and admonishments to be a light to those around us.
Recently, I’ve starting thinking that I’m too old to reach out to the younger women. What does a grandmother (I was under 40 when I became one. Just sayin’. have in common with a young mom, or a woman without children. The truth is God puts us together when we are willing. Thank you for the good questions and the encouragement to step out, to make those meaning connections, to be open to the Spirit’s prompting and follow through.
I feel this way as well. My husband has been in the military for over 21 years, but we are not the majority. There are very few of us at our age at this point. It is hard to go to events sometimes when you are 10-20 years older than everyone else. But I do reach out, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. But God uses us and that’s all that matters.
I was thinking the same thing. I’m in my mid-forties, who wants to listen to me? But something I’ve discovered is the younger women DO want us to friend them. God began putting them in my path fairly early on – I just didn’t recognize it.