When others shut us down…

It is possible to do something excellently and still get rude remarks. It is possible for others to envy our work and try to shut us down. Our natural response might be to protect ourselves, to run away and hide.

In the Bible, someone experienced the same, and this man hid out in the wilderness, inside a cave. But God asked him, ‘What are you doing here?’

That man poured out his heart, but God gave him another perspective. He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord…’

Those who are envious will try to force us into hiding, but God pulls us out into the open. He shows us that next good thing to do.

(from 1 Kings 19:9-18) (photo by M Venter: https://www.pexels.com)

Unexampled

I still can’t quite grasp the enormity of how unprecedented each one of us is. No one out there is like you or me. And each of us is unparalleled. No one has ever spoken with my voice. No one else has my heart and mind.

Yet, it is a fragile fact and evaded my grasp for years, because I had concluded that I didn’t matter, that my voice had little worth. But, in the silence of this past year, our individual uncommonness, our unrivalled uniqueness is hitting home.

The Bible puts it so well. “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!” (Psalm 139:14)

Photo by JJ Jordan on Unsplash