Be Safe
Life is hard. We can all attest to that. Everyone's hard is different, but hard remains hard. The worst thing for anyone struggling through a hard season is feeling like you are doing it alone, that there is no place that is safe for you, and no one has your back. I sometimes wonder if people who cause so much pain and hurt in our lives are doing so because when they were facing their own hardships, they had no safe place to turn to.
We all need a place of safety – a place where we are fully accepted and can know with certainty that we will be okay. That safe place is with God. It is the one place you are known and accepted without condition. When I read the Psalms, I become deeply aware of how close God is when times are hard and how much He assures us of His love regardless of our circumstances. If you have never known His love tangibly, it’s a hard truth to believe without experiencing it first hand for yourself.
Recently, I started working in a community that faces constant hardship – poverty, drug addiction, broken families and gangsterism to name but a few. What makes the most impact in a place faced with such constant hardships? Without question, people who care enough to be safe people. A few nights ago as we were visiting with some people, a young man who had been shot a few days earlier came by to say thank you after he was discharged from the hospital. All he kept saying to the lady who has been working here for the past 5 years was thank you for always having a open door for me and showing me that you love me. He knew where he was safe. He knew where he was accepted just for who he was. In the midst of his hardship, he knew who would always be there for him.
I wonder if that isn’t the greatest task we are to accomplish here on earth – To be a safe place for people, a place where they can come as they are without judgment, knowing that they will simply be loved.
May you be a safe person for someone this week when the world feels extremely unsafe to them. May we as God’s people be known by our love.