Because The World Needs You

Originally published Thursday, 04 February 2016.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.-Matthew 5_16 subheading

For as long as I can remember,  I’ve heard a familiar idiom escape the lips of older, wiser people: “The world is going to hell in a hand basket.” It sounds like such grownup terminology, doesn’t it? And the older I get, as I turn on the news in hopes of informing myself on politics and real live important issues from around the globe, everything in me wants to shout those very same words because, after all,  they feel true. But I can’t.

Somewhere deep inside there’s this tiny little well of hope that bubbles. It’s a voice that speaks, a heart that beats, and a place where faith and optimism chooses a dwelling place. If all of us could just take some time to reconnect with that little wellspring down deep how we see the world would undoubtedly change.

Don’t get me wrong, we won’t see all roses. More likely,  some of the picture will include edibles hanging heavy from branches – just like we learned way back in Genesis surrounding the fruit on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The question becomes, will we bite or not?

Here’s what I’m trying to say: From almost the very beginning the world has been a messy yet joyful, confused place. There’s always been rich and poor, healthy and sick, optimists and pessimists. And in all this, there are some who choose to speak negativity, some who choose to wear designer blinders, (By the way, I’ve owned a pair or two of those.) and then there are some who decide to let their wellsprings bubble up and over, pouring out the healing powers of community on others who need it.

It comes down to this: the world needs you! Your gifts, your talents, your voice, your heart. The world needs your dreams and inspiration, it needs your passion and pursuit. There is no one else exactly like you and so someone out there is waiting for what only you can give.

God created you and He leaves NOTHING He creates. He hovers and breathes the breath of life even when you don’t feel it or want to feel it. Here’s the catch, you have free will and free choice. He’s already chosen you, but will you choose Him? Will you choose to be the light you were created to be?

The world needs your light, friend.

You can help feed, clothe, encourage, love , and teach. You can use your art as inspiration and your freedom in Christ to help build bridges and fill gaps. You can pray.

Sometimes, we need to stop confessing what’s bad so that we can get busy showing the good of God. With our hands, with our feet, with our hope, and with our love we can be light in all that appears dark.

 Let not mercy and truth forsake you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart,
and so find favor and high esteem
in the sight of God and man.

-Proverbs 3:3-4

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

-Matthew 5:16

Love,

Jennifer

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