You Matter

10/16/23

Hello Important, Valuable Person ~

This is a rerun of part of a post from October 2021. 

And in case you need reminding, those last two paragraphs are about you, too.

Just recently had the realization of how one very humble and beautiful couple from my church made such an impact in my life, yet I’m not so sure they’d even remember my name after the covid separation.

When the husband died unexpectedly, it really hit me hard.  I went to his funeral and tried to figure out why I was crying so much for this gentle man.  I hadn’t seen or even communicated with him for a couple of years, I’d only known him for maybe 6 or 7 years, and saw them, at most, half of the times I’d gone to a service pre-covid.   

I was always looking for them, though, because they held a special place in my heart, even if I didn’t know ‘why’.

Was finally able to figure it out, and sent his lovely widow a note that, in part, read:

“. . . I’ve always appreciated you and [husband] so much, as individuals and as a couple.  

You two were so kind and welcoming when I first joined our church, spending time with me at fellowship hour.  

And you’re that way with everyone, so accepting and gentle with others as well as each other.  You both have a certain kind of peace that influences the room you’re in.

And I love you two as a couple.  I don’t know if you know this, but I come from an abusive childhood and marriage.  Real love wasn’t something I witnessed or experienced much for the first several decades of life and so I’ve been struggling for a long time to understand what it is, what it looks like, especially in a romantic sense.  And when I watched you and [husband] together, I ‘got’ it.  The way you’d look into each other’s eyes and smile because you each understood what the other was thinking.  The lack of judgement, and gentleness in the way you talked to each other, tended to each other.  How you seemed to be able to trust each other implicitly, knowing you each had the other’s back, always.   

How beautiful.  

I realize, it may or may not have been like that for all the seventy years, but what you two had for as long as I’ve known you, both as a couple and individually, is something I aspire to.  

Thank you for being you.”

Satan tries to convince us that who we are and what we do in our day to day life doesn’t matter much, but I KNOW that’s a lie.  So frequently just being the authentic, kind beings we truly are can touch another’s heart in a way we may never know about, may heal a tear we never saw.  

I have a sign that says, “Be you. The world will adjust”. They’re wise words that tell us, in a facetious way, that the world won’t collapse if we are our true selves instead of who we think we ‘should’ be in order to fit others’ expectations.   But what I’ve just realized is, it could also say, “Be YOU, and the world will be blessed.” 

God bless you, Important & Valuable-Just-Because-You’re-God’s-Beloved-Creation Person!