Connection in life is such an important matter it's truly the way God ordained our beings to exist. We want so much to be accepted and we know the excruciating power of rejection. When we are rejected for what we do or for who we are we are torn to the heart, and we feel we have no place in that place.
But God brought each of us into being.
If this were not so, how then do we explain our lives? Beyond our parents' planning, God is the one that made it happen; God brought us into the miraculous state of life, and sustains us to this very day.
We belong here.
This is an incontrovertible fact. Earth is a place for everyone. Not one person is here by accident. And though this seems obvious, we only have to look through our own lives to come face-to-face with the people we have rejected or those who have rejected us.
Acceptance is not as straightforward an idea as we might think.
Indeed, just like God's love seems so basic, the matter of acceptance is a difficult concept even for the most loving of people. For example, we don't want to appear as racially divided, yet we still have barriers between us and people of other cultures; we are self-conscious, not wanting them to pick up that we feel uncomfortable. But this self-consciousness is driven by love, because we don't want to offend them.
Still, there is a lack of authenticity and that is picked up, so often, as a rejection.
FAITH IN A PLACE
The challenge ahead of us, particularly where we see evidence of a lack of fit, is to have hope that there is a place for us; that we fit somewhere. Faith will energise our journey and take us all the way to the reception of it.
Faith in this way is not getting despondent and not giving up on the vision God has for our lives: 1) to be loved and 2) to love, and through these two the provision of hope for a good future.
Because we have life and we have a role in living this life, that we have this place, we have a license to bring meaning to that sense of place.
If we feel lonely, discouraged, or we are hurting, there is a lack of sense of place. It might be just for a season, but we know in our lack that our lack speaks more about the lack of place than anything else.
Our opportunity is to believe: 1) we do belong, and 2) there is a belonging place for us to be found, and then enjoyed.
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On Earth there is a place for everyone and everyone has a place. God has ordained this by our existence. Finding our place can be problematic. We need faith to not give up. There is a place for each of us where we can love and be loved, and know hope.
© 2013 S. J. Wickham.
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