When you’re walking through this world aching to be seen.

I was sitting outside in a little patio area.

The auto dealership had recently carved it out for waiting customers.

A lovely little landscaped space with rock walls and roses.

A blue-sky day, the mid-morning sun was radiant and warm.

Purple and fragrant, the spikes of salvia stretched eagerly upward. Floral invitations extended to neighborhood nectar-seekers.

Butterflies and bumblebees.

While I was there two roundish, yellow-jacketed visitors were also enjoying this beautiful and quiet space.

“Bumbling” as they do.

Unhurriedly rising and falling in the air, moving with languid intent.

Bloom to bloom.

Savoring the last of summer’s sweetness from the heavenly-laden lavender florets. In rapid and rhythmic succession their beating wings left leaves aflutter below.

I was mesmerized with their flight.

…

Suddenly the blaring of horns broke the silence.

My attention was diverted from this peaceful, almost sacred space.

I watched cars driving by in the parking lot beyond. They proceeded slowly ~ a noisy little parade of two. I realized it was only the person in the car behind that was honking.

She beeped the horn, glaring ahead as she shook her head.

Over and over.

Apparently he didn’t recognize her urgency. She wanted him to stop.

Maybe she needed to tell him something.

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We do this in our lives, don’t we?

Like that honking horn we find ways to acquire someone’s attention when we need to be seen. It is a necessity of the human condition.

Babies cry when they need to be fed.

Toddlers tug on a pant-leg when they want to be picked up and held.

Teenagers sometimes act out as they struggle to find the words. To find themselves.

Single-mothers weep in silence. No one to turn to at the end of long and demanding day.

Corporate climbers clamor to the top, seeking recognition and awards.

Widows peer out at the world as their heart aches another day for the love they once had.

It is in every one of us.

We are all the same.

This recurring wave of void that can sweep over us and weight us to our knees.

Unsuspecting.

And in that place, danger lurks.

For when we succumb to the nagging and negative thoughts, we surrender our shield. The enemy is so very willing to snatch it up as we lie alone and vulnerable.

There’s nothing more that he could want than to hide our strength and armor from our view. Keeping us penned-up in darkness.

Without protection we find ourselves afraid.

Feeling unseen.

Unheard.

Voiceless in a world rushing by.

Other souls too busy to recognize our hurting. Some are running from their own pain. If they slow down, they fear that the void will consume them.

We can feel wrecked and weary.

And in that space, desperation can twist our thoughts.

Misconstrue meaning.

Suffocate our souls.

1 John 4:4

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

…

My Sweet Louise was not herself.

Her lovely smile had taken a downturn.

The first week of school was over now. Finding rest in Friday meant that she was home. Home to decompress. Home to contemplate her culminating thoughts.

Evaluating her place in this, her sophomore year.

Finding her fit amongst classmates.

I could see flickers of frustration. She was reserved in conversation and abrupt in her actions. Something was amiss.

But when I asked if she wanted to talk about it, she declined.

…

That night, when my dear Emma was all cozied up in her happy place and tucked under her covers she tried to read.

A distraction from the hurt.

I knocked at the door, hoping to come in and say prayers with her as I always do. She invited me in as the tears began to trickle. She had decided that she wanted to talk.

I knelt by her side. I held her warm hands.

And I listened as she told her story of the past days. The excitement. The angst.

The bruising of a tender heart.

But between the lines, I heard the deeper truth of her story.

In the midst of trouble, she had found her shield. 

This amazing and beautiful girl was struggling with some new and awkward adolescent feelings. They had made their way in this week.

Her first crush on a young man at school and he liked someone else. As the days ticked by, it became evident to her.

She saw a sparkle in his eyes when he looked at someone else.

She wasn’t the one being admired.

He didn’t see her the way she wanted him to.

And sadness beckoned her.

As I listened to her tell her story from the week, I saw a God-girl of courage radiant before me.

The void ~ the wave had come to meet her, but she took the hand of her Jesus as He lifted her up to the surface.

A place where she could see clearly.

As she stepped back to see the situation through the eyes of our Savior, this incredible young woman could see that she was touching envy.

She was on the verge of dancing with an unfamiliar guest. Jealousy had extended its hand.

But she recognized that this was not who she is.

This is not who she wanted to be.

Isaiah 43:2

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

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We all have a need to be seen.

At some point in our lives we have been rejected by a parent. Turned away by a friend. Abandoned by a lover. Jilted by our peers.

We want to belong.

We have a desire to be heard.

To be recognized.

To be noticed.

…

And we were designed to experience all of these things. But not necessarily in the way that the world tells us it ought to be.

That void we feel is a calling out of our souls to His. Our Father God. Our Savior.

Our Jesus.

For we were created to be completed in Him alone.

Nothing of this world can ever compare to His great love for us. No amount of money. No romantic courtship. No parental approval. No travel experiences to exotic places. No felicity or fame.

In Him we are not only seen but truly admired.

We are known.

We are cherished.

We are free.

And we are wildly loved beyond measure!

Romans 8:39

Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

…

God came to save us from our deep longing by meeting us here in humanity. Our broken and erroneous existence interfaced with heaven on the day that Christ was born.

At the Cross we find a love that extinguishes the hurt. A love that eclipses our pain.

And by His Spirit the the veil was torn and He lives in us.

He is our shield.

The armor we possess to face this world on our most difficult days.

In the trenches of tragedy.

In the stronghold of sin.

In the cries of calamity.

He sees us!

Jesus calls us to Him. To that sacred space where nothing can interfere. For in Him we have a bond that can never be broken.

Not by loss.

Nor fear.

Nothing that the enemy tries to throw at us can ever sever the connection we have with Him.

So, when we think of how “someone’s eyes sparkle for another”, how that diamond glistens on her finger, how much we want to be appreciated and cared for…

We can remember the Cross. 

And know that we are loved by the beautiful and magnificent Savior of the world!

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Please, enjoy…

(“Known” by Tauren Wells)