Insignificant

It seems like I have had this blog in my head for a long time. Seems like I have never been able to put all of my thoughts together at one given time to be able to complete it. Not that anyone ever really reads these things, but sometimes getting ideas out on paper well it helps me to process what is happening in the moments of my life. Several months ago I was asked to write a history paper. I opted to do a quick report on Eleanor Roosevelt, simply because I didn't want to take the time to go to a different library, and my little hometown library had enough books on her that I thought I could pull it off fairly easily. Little did I know that there was a reason I would be writing that report. I never really knew much about Eleanor Roosevelt other than she was the First lady to Franklin D. Roosevelt and that she was an outstanding humanitarian. I didn't realize the reason why she had become such a humanatarian. You see Eleanor always felt very insignificant. From the time she was born throughout most of her life the people around her made her feel like she was never good enough, never pretty enough, to amount to anything. Whether it be her mother's comments about her being unattractive, to her fathers alcholoism, to her husbands indescretions with other women. Eleanor made up her mind that even though she felt ugly and insignificant that she was going to do everything in her power to make sure that others around her would never ever feel that way. Whether it be serving food in a soup kitchen for the thousands in the bread lines during the depression...or taking care packages and hand delivering them to the troops in a war zone...all things that most "First Ladies" don't do. As I wrote the report on Eleanor I recalled a passage in a book I had read by Rob Bell called Sex God. There is a section in the book where Mr. Bell talks about people feeling unhuman or insignificant. There was a section of a diary from a British Soldier whose unit had liberated a concentration camp during WWII, he had written a letter about what he had seen while there. He talked about how the prisonors of the concentration camp were made to feel unhuman. That they had been stripped of everything, not just their clothes but their name, there whole existence had been taken away from them. It was through an act of humanity or what was supposed to be an act of humanity that supplies had arrived at the concentration camp. However as so often it happens, there was a mix up. While food and bedding were supposed to be received, in the packages they found lip stick. Lip stick. This soldier was amazed at what this lip stick did though, as a matter of fact he called it sheer genius. He remembered women that were beaten and bedraggled, thin wearing the lip stick. He remembers seeing woman that passed away without an identity laying on the table clutching lip stick...for in that moment when they put that lip stick back on they felt human again. They felt like they had an identity again. Isn't it funny how one little thing like a tube of lip stick can make someone feel better? I can't fathom that to be honest, but as I go through life I come back to that story so often. When I think about Eleanor I can relate to her in a lot of ways. Not that I am going to complain. But a part of me understands what it is like to feel like a fish swimming up stream, to have no one actually believe in you. I am happier in my life today because I have found a few people who do believe in me. Who do push me to be a better person. Who push me to pursue that which is my heart. They make me feel significant when for so long I felt so insignificant. I think insignificance is brought on by indifference. If you know me at all you have heard me talk about indifference a lot. I guess it is one of those things that gets under my skin. Now I am not going to say that I am not guilty of the sin of indifference from time to time. Because we all are. But I really hope if you read this, that you think about indifference. It comes in all kinds of forms, whether it be silence when someone shares a joyous event or something that is bothering them....Or maybe it is a face you make, or a roll of your eyes....maybe it is you hurrying and not really listening....it comes in a lot of forms. I personally have tried in my life to make sure I am not being indifferent. Because you know what if someone is sharing something with you it is because that thing means something to that individual. Your response or lack of directly effects whether that individual feels significant or INsignificant. Personally I don't want to make anyone feel like I have or how Eleanor felt. God tells us in His book that we are all created in His image...Think about that. Each one of us is a little piece of what God is like. The person sitting next to you, or across the street from you, they are created in the image of God. His intent is for NO one to ever feel like they don't matter. We all matter to Him. He has equipped us, and charged us with making sure that we make those around us feel like they matter as well. He wants all of us to feel significant. I love the line that ends the chapter in the Rod Bell book that has touched my life...in hopes that it will mean something to you if you have taken the time to read this...."Sometimes the difference between Heaven and Hell is a little lipstick"