Hi Friends, how are you? Changes are coming; changes are coming! Sameness is never forever, and I think that’s fortunate.  Everything and everyone should change, although not every change should be embraced, but we should do better and get better at doing better. My mornings come a bit later now because the sun rises later and my evenings come a tad bit earlier these days, cooler temperatures are on our doorstep.  Can you believe that today is the last day of August? It was just January a few (seemingly) days ago, now we’re eight months into the year. What story have our footprints told about us?

Covid-19 (well, let us blame Covid, definitely not the nature of man) has brought quite a few changes to our lives, hasn’t it? Some good, but most not so good, I think.  The enforced separation from people brought about a selfishness among us that still lingers today.  We have forgotten, I believe, that people matter.  People matter to God, so they should matter to us.  You matter to the God of the universe; therefore, you should always matter to me.  We don’t have to share same beliefs for us to have worth.  We don’t have to be from the same country in order to have importance as a human being.  We shouldn’t have to all look the same, nor speak the same language to be thought of as equal to each other.  

Too often, the Lord has to pry my fingers open because I have the tendency to hold on to some things and some people too tightly.  Because the Lord wants me to understand that changes are good, throughout my years on this earth, He has brought me quite a few changes.  But the more things changed in my life, the tighter I held onto some things and some people, because these, I thought I could control, in these I placed my trust, to some extent. The changes shook my foundation, but instead of running to the God of the Universe, I ran to what I thought I could control.  I realized as He did that that I had a faulty view of His people.  I allowed some to matter to me and others just didn’t matter as much.  I decided who was worthy to be part of my circle and deemed some as unworthy.  I, in my mind, gave people value.

Now why would I do something like that? Don’t I know better? Haven’t I been told? Of course, I have been told.  In my defense, (if I had to have one) it wasn’t intentional.  Isn’t that a good word? Intentional, I like that word; intentional.  It would mean that I am aware, that I am deliberate.  But I wasn’t aware, I was not deliberate, I was not intentional.  So, I had a rule for some people; three strikes and you’re out! I know! I know! Who did I think I was? Didn’t I know about forgiveness? Didn’t I understand love?

It must have been because I thought I was better in some way.  Probably I thought I was smarter? Or maybe I thought I was taller? Nope, I’m only 5”2.  Perhaps I thought I was more beautiful? Could it be I thought I was more spiritual? More holy than some? Perhaps I thought I was more loved by God? Or just maybe when I compared myself to them, weighed my sin against theirs, I thought my sin weighed less? I wonder where I got that idea?

I think it’s innate.  Me-ism is so innate, sometimes I fool myself into thinking, it is part of being godly.  Except of course, we all know that any godliness in us needs intentionality.  I need to be intentional; I need to be aware; I need to be deliberate in order to be godly because God will not force me to be godly, I must want that.  I must desire that attribute because obviously it does not exist in me.  We say the the words ‘I love you’ in such a laissez-fare manner until they’ve lost their meaning.  

Do I love you enough to put my life on the line for you? Yet isn’t that what love entails? Do I love you? Can I love you? The truth is I can only love you when I take my eyes off me, off my concerns, off my own comforts, off my issues, not because they or me matter less.  No, no not because I matter less, but because I intentionally threw my issues, my comforts, my concerns, even myself on the only One, Who loves me more than me.  

Because that love for me far outweighs my love for me, ‘till it overflows, that overwhelming love allows me to love you.  I realize now that I do not give you worth, I do not give you value, I do not grant you importance; you always had it, because like me, you are created in the image of the Creator God.  You never needed me to find you valuable.  You were always valuable to the God of the universe. Ultimately His pronouncement of our worth is the only one that matters anyway.  

People matter to God; therefore, people should always matter to me. It shouldn’t matter what they believe, it shouldn’t depend on their looks, it shouldn’t depend on their actions because fortunately for me, God’s love for me doesn’t depend on my looks (thankfully), doesn’t depend on my beliefs, doesn’t depend on my actions.  Because He loves me, I can love you.  When I believe He loves me, then I will love you unconditionally.  Today, I choose to intentionally love you. I choose to deliberately demonstrate that love by praying for you.

Changes are coming! Changes are coming! Are we ready? What do our footprints say about us? Do people matter to us? Do they know we love them or are they just words? 

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