I gathered smooth, flat rocks in my hand. Turning them over, I carefully looked at each of them—determining if they were good skipping rocks, and if so, how many skips I could get out of each rock. Each rock was different, unique. Some were scraped and scarred from the journey down the river. Others were smooth, glistening from the water rushing over it. My eyes scanned the rocks, looking only for flat, round rocks. As I ran my fingers over the individually shaped rocks I was holding, I couldn’t help but think of how many times we skip over people in our lives.
Maybe the people seem scraped and scarred themselves—hurting from going through the storms of life. When you see those types of people, it’s so much easier to just skip over them— to choose to talk to the people who look like they’ve experienced less hurt. It’s less time consuming, and can be easy to ignore the hurt people are going through.
But… that isn’t what God does. He doesn’t see us and skip over us. He sees every person, each fearfully and wonderfully created by Him, and He cares for each person, no matter their story, what they’re going through, or how many scrapes and scars they have from their life. He could choose to love only certain ones and ignore others. But, out of His greatness and mercy, He doesn’t.
I think Ephesians 3:17-19 sums up His love for us—every one of us, no matter our story—in an amazing way. “So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
People in life will skip over you, ignore you, and cause you pain. But the Creator of the universe Himself won’t skip over you. He notices you, He cares for you, and most importantly, He loves you. To Him, you’re not a single rock surrounded by hundreds of better rocks. To Him, you’re His beloved child.
Kayla Joy
