Two days ago, the Nugget featured a piece written by Nugget writer Elizabeth Prize, from “down under” in Australia, entitled “Pot Plants”. In this devotional, Mrs. Price describes how the scrubbing of her blue and white flower pots compares to the scrubbing that Jesus does in our hearts.
When she wrote this piece, she didn’t know that way “up over” in Canada, this Nugget writer also had blue and white flower pots. In the course of accepting the piece for publication in the Nugget, these two writers exchanged pictures of their “blue and white” pots, and this writer got a chuckle out of suggesting that her own “blue and white pots” also needed scrubbing.
The day went on, and the exchange about the pots was forgotten…by this writer at least. There was another concern, too big to overcome. I was afraid I had caused someone hurt, and my feeble attempts at righting the wrongs were being, seemingly, ignored. By the end of the day, I was feeling quite low, quite insignificant, quite insecure. I went to bed with these negative thoughts playing out in my head, and who is surprised to learn I didn’t sleep well. Finally, after tossing and turning for what seemed hours, I got up and went downstairs. My phone was flashing, a sure sign that I had a message of some kind. I grabbed it and my glasses at the same time…Maybe this was the text message that would stop me from feeling so insecure and insignificant…
It wasn’t. Or at least, it didn’t seem so at first. Instead, it was an email from “down under” in response to the pictures I had sent about my blue and white pots (used by permission): “Wonderful! I love them and I too have bigger pots that are not a lot unlike yours. It is a sharing thing, and whenever I talk to/admonish/spoil/hug my pots, I will think of you and yours. You have shared a piece of yourself…The personal touch.”
As I read the words, “I will think of you and yours”, and “You have shared a piece of yourelf…The personal touch,” I started to cry. Silly isn’t it, to cry over an email about pots? But God was using this little exchange with dear Elizabeth to teach me a vitally-important lesson: I was allowing my entire sense of self-worth to be dictated by one broken relationship; but God was reminding me in His loving gentle way, through a sweet email from a dear friend who had no idea I was going through such times, that He is the One who defines my self-worth, not any one person or situation, but Him! And to prove it, He sent me reassurance of my self-worth through my dear friend all the way at the exact opposite side of the world from where I live.
Feeling low? Like your life isn’t worth anything? Are you letting one person’s opinion dictate your self-value? Remember my blue and white pots. Your life is infinitely valuable in so many immeasurable ways. You may not see it, but someone in this world does, and at the moment when you are feeling your lowest, God will send you that reassurance. That’s how much He loves you!
Oh, and let’s also remember that it is God and Him alone who can accurately measure our self-worth, and though we can and do make mistakes, if we are covered by His robe of righteousness, we are perfect in His eyes!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two, Author — “Aboard God’s Train — A Journey With God Through the Valley of Cancer”, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with Answers2Prayer Ministries. Follow Lyn on Twitter @lynchaffart.
(To access the entire “Pot Plants” mini-series, please click here.)