DON'T BELEIVE THE SCARECROW

Over time things can become skewed.  We pay attention to the paintings at the Stations of the Cross and over time give more attention to them so that we forget that they are completely unnecessary.  The indulgence is connected to the wooden crosses.  And sometimes we see the stations without the crosses because we forgot which was the important piece.  

The candles on the sides of a consecrated church are supposed to light up the crosses on the walls where the oil was placed to bless the church.  Sometimes we forget this and put giant candles in the stands so that the cross is obscured.

Sometimes we are so immersed in the Protestant work ethic that we feel we have to produce, be useful, and have talent in order to be beloved.  Now, it is true that Paul said, "He who does not work should not eat."  That is about fair play, not the worth of the individual.  And it's good for the non-worker too.  Have him learn some valuable life lessons and whatnot.  But that doesn't make him any more of a person.  It doesn't make him have any more dignity.  So it is with the man in the insane asylum (I'm sure there is a more politically correct way of saying that) or on death row, or in the womb, or in the nursing home, or in an unresponsive state, or begging on the street corner.  They are no less cherished and loved by God.  And neither are you when you are feeling unproductive, unconnected, and unmotivated.  Maybe God is calling you to STOP and just BE.  "Be still," he tells us, "and know that I am God."  What you can produce is not what is special, YOU are what makes you special.  He did create you after all.    

And it does not matter how much you are loved.  "A heart is not measured by how much you love," says the Scarecrow, "but by how much you are loved by others."  Horse pucky.  Do you know who some of the most difficult people on the face of the earth were to live with?  Saints.  St. Jerome was so irascible there was an effort to get him kicked out of the league of saints.  True love can be a very difficult thing with which to live in this world.

Stop rating.

Stop comparing yourself.

How much you can produce.  How much you are loved.  These are things the world cares about.  These measures help the world determine who doesn't matter that much, who we can throw away, who's life we can extinguish.  All these things don't work if you have inherit dignity and worth and are loved by the only One who really matters and Who promises the healing of hearts when you finally come to Him.

Every hurt is an opportunity for healing.  Every lonely minute will make ultimate love all the more blissful.  Every ounce of feeling worthless will make the revealing of your dignity all the more mind-blowing.  Every tear, every rejection, every anguish, every humiliation is, for those who love Him, a stored blessing.