Have you ever felt out of place? Like the world and time are just passing by and you’re invisible, or worse, you’re being ignored?
It’s a lie. nYou are not invisible. You are not ignored. And time and the world don’t really matter. The one who created you sees you, knows you, and loves you.
There is so much hate, division, and indifference today. It’s suffocating. It’s maddening. And it’s not going away. So, what do we do?
If I find a puzzle piece, and it doesn’t fit, I’ll check the whole puzzle looking for the right spot. If I get down to the last empty space, and the piece doesn’t fit; in fact, it doesn’t even match, it should become apparent that the piece fits a different puzzle.
That’s how I feel right now. Hatred, division, and disregard flood all forms of media. Common ground and common sense cannot be found, and it doesn’t feel like I fit this puzzle.
I’m reminded of the Switchfoot song, “Beautiful Letdown.”
“It was a beautiful letdownnThe day I knewnThat all the riches this world had to offer me would never do
In a world full of bitter pain and bitter doubtnI was trying so hard to fit in, fit innUntil I found out
I don’t belong here”
The sound goes beyond the music and the lyrics and sings a deeper meaning, telling us where we belong.
Samaria was not her home though she’d grown up there.
She married young, and it didn’t last. Her first husband cast her aside, and she was no use to anyone. She didn’t belong. She bounced from one man to the next, one shame to another, until she had run out of options. Her looks waned and her body began to fail.
She could no longer stand the stares, the scorn, the harsh words, or the silence. She stopped going to synagogue. She stopped trying to find her place among the other women. She even went so far as to draw water in the midday sun when no one else tested the heat.
That’s when she met Jesus.
She didn’t know who he was. He was a stranger, a Jew, a man, and he met her at the well.
You probably know the story. He offered her living water, a never-ending source of life to meet and quench her thirst.
Her heart told her she didn’t belong.
His gentleness and love told her the opposite. “You belong.”
When I look at everything going on, it’s easy to feel discouraged, but instead I smile because I don’t belong here. This is not my kingdom or my country. My country ’tis of Thee. The sweet land of liberty can’t be found in America or by searching the globe but by surrendering the heart.
“You are my country
You are my land.
You are the line
I’m drawing in the sand
You are my city
You are my town
You are the King
We give You back the crown”