The other day my sister-in-law posted a picture of my nephew Sam on social media. Now Sam wasn’t always my nephew. He started off as a foster child in my parent’s home some three years ago. Sam spent the first year of his life in their care and I helped them raise him for half a year while I lived at home. When it came time for Sam to be adopted, my brother and sister-in-law accepted him into their growing family and now my parents and I are blessed to watch the baby we knew, grow into a young man.
At the time, we didn’t know Sam would end up with special needs. Although we prayed for him to have a healthier childhood, God had a different plan. Sam is only three, but he struggles with a low attention span, has an issue with his digestive track and early onset cataracts. He may be a handful, but he’s a happy one.
Sam’s setbacks allow him to see the world the way God does.
In the picture, Sam is holding a flower but the stem is broken in two places. He has the biggest smile on his face as he proudly holds the busted flower up for a picture. My sister-in-law overheard my niece say, “Let Sam have that flower, he doesn’t mind the messed up ones.” She was right; Sam carried the flower around all day as if it were the most important thing in the world. It was broken but it was a treasure to him.
I couldn’t help but brush away a tear as I read the post. It hit me that Sam was indeed a wonderful representation of how God sees us. We are all “the messed up ones” and yet God carries us around because we are important to him. He looks past our fractured stem and proudly shows us off in the best light possible. He ignores our imperfections and is proud to call us His favorites.
Sam is an adorable representation of God’s love for us. Right now we are living in a shattered world and a state of unrest. It can feel like we are living unseen and unheard by God and by others. God sees His broken treasures, ignored by a world looking for perfection. A world that expects us to fit society’s ideals of what a person should be or how they should act.
Sometimes it can feel like life is passing you by even though what you have to offer, is just as good as everyone else. If you are feeling lost and struggling to stay hopeful, take heart. God will continue to carry you, because after all, He doesn’t mind the messed up ones.
