Everlasting

She watched all of the beautiful people around her and wondered where she fit in.  She wasn’t beautiful, like they were.  She was largely unnoticed.  At times, she felt invisible.  The beautiful people smiled and laughed and connected with others as they moved along.   She stayed by the wall, her feet rooted in place, observing and listening.  When someone noticed her, she was surprised, and at times, suspicious.  She had her share of  people who only noticed her when she had something they wanted.  She wondered what made her so different.  She wondered if anyone would ever notice her just because she was worth noticing.  She wondered why the ones she allowed herself to trust always seemed to leave.

A day came when she was tired of standing alone.  Someone new offered her His hand, someone who was different from the others.  She had nothing to lose.  She took it and a strange sense of recognition filled her.  She knew Him.  He had been the wall at her back when she was surrounded by the beautiful people that she didn’t trust.  He had been the ground where she planted her feet to stay safe.  He had supported and protected her all along.

He told her a secret.  She was beautiful.  She was worth noticing.  She always had been.  The inability of others to see that only revealed their inability to see.  He had always seen.  He had always noticed.  He had always loved.

So she stands there still today, by the wall, rooted firmly in the One who loves her.

“The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.'”  Jeremiah 31:3