Chosen.

Dear friend,

I saw it today, when I was talking to someone else… the shadow of sadness that briefly clouded your features, dimming the usual sparkle in your eyes.  I saw it later when you focused on your computer, your book, your nails, on cleaning and organizing and functional things instead of engaging in the conversation and the laughter and the life going on around you.   I saw what you were feeling.

I know that feeling, my friend.  That restlessness, that longing that you can’t quite define the object of…. The feeling like something is missing...  The desperation you feel when you can’t find a familiar face in the crowd and the fear that sends you down into hiding instead of out into the community.   That gray formless void that engulfs your spirit when you see photos of the fun weekends that everyone else seems to have and the tears that fall as you wonder what’s wrong with me? Why don’t I have any friends?

You just want to be in.  In the group that seems to have all the fun. In on the jokes, the shared experiences, the Facebook photos, the joy.

You want to be known.

We feel the most safe when we feel known. It’s why we search for familiar faces in the dining room or wait for someone to sit with at community gatherings.

And guess what? You are known.  Deeply, truly, purely, genuinely known, to the center of your being.

And now I know what you’re thinking – yes, I know God knows me.  But really… I need some people, too.  I just want to be chosen.

You are. 

You have been chosen. You have been invited.  You were selected before the world began… to be the one to break down barriers, to speak life and truth over the hundreds of others around you feeling exactly the same things.  You’ve been invited to respond out of love and not out of fear to the promptings and whispers of talk to her or trust this one or invite that one to eat with you. You are not invisible; rather, you are a critical, vital piece of this puzzle and your friendship is desperately needed.  People really do love to be around you.  So go, deepen a friendship or start a new one, trust His call on your life and trust that you are enough.

You are.

Go.