Scatterbrained

I'm sitting in my room, listening to the rain tapping on my AC unit and window and I feel quite scatterbrained. I know I need to write, as it has been awhile, and I want to write, but focusing on what to say is not working out so well at the so moment. So, I'm taking an approach from one of my English classes- 'free writing'. I'll do a little more editing than I did in my class though, so hopefully a point will emerge eventually.

On Monday, the doctor that leads the mobile medical clinics did our devotions. One of the points that she made during it was finding out identity in Christ and how the devil has many ways that he tries to lead us astray from that, often subtle lies about ourselves that distract us from the truth. As a visual example she showed a picture of one of the children she had encountered with a cleft palate. The child was quite shy, and you can tell by his body language in the pictures that he has believed things about himself from peoples reactions or comments to him, or from looking at his own image and seeing that he is different from everyone around him. There were a few points that I was mulling over from the devotion that morning, and Monday happened to be the day that I went with the medical team to the Schistosomiasis hospital.

Several children had been found in the mobile clinics with cleft lip or cleft palate, like the little boy in Abi's picture. Abi has been working to see if surgeries can be arranged for them, and this was they day that they were all traveling to the hospital for preliminary tests and paperwork. I was able to go along to cover it for stories and photos, and to help provide photos for the applications for surgeries. I met the little boy that was in the pictures that morning. He was even more timid in person than he had appeared in the photos. If I pulled my camera out, he would almost cry and would hide behind his mother. It was heart breaking to me, because each one of the kids there was absolutely beautiful.

As X-rays were being arranged, I was in a room separate from the kids, but with a window. I started playing through the window with one of the babies, and he was precious. He would smile and laugh. When I looked at the oldest child, who was 6, and how he didn't smile, and would hide from attention, I saw where this baby would be in a few years, once he realized he was different. Would he too believe that he should hide his face? Would he believe things about himself and his worth based on how people treated him? I pray that he won't have to go through that, but it makes you stop and think about people. As Abi said, there are many things, subtle influences on how we see ourselves, and also how we effect others.

One of the girls that I work with posted this the other day and it tied right along with these thoughts: "Today I tried hiding under my awesome SP hat and made the effort to hum my insecurities away. I somehow felt that common need to alter oneself to please people. I mulled on it. But at the end of the day I was reminded that it wasn't worth it to look like the world. I don't wanna look like everybody else; I wanna be like Jesus! To follow God's word and obey it. To live the life He gave me and to love the people He surrounded me with. To be who He wants me to be - like Jesus." 

She found her identity in Christ. Two reminders for today: 1. Where are you finding your identity and your worth? It goes way deeper than looks. While that is one obvious example here, it is not the entire point. 2. How are you influencing those around you with your looks, words, attitude and treatment? Do you want to be like Jesus?