Removing the Labels

Labels are something you begin receiving in childhood. The first label I got was when I was in the first grade and riding the school bus. The older children gave the label "cute" to some of the first grade girls, I wasn't one of them. My label was "not cute". In class I received my next label. I had difficulty reading so I was given the label "not smart". Although these labels hurt there was a label that was far worse than any label I received it was "not wanted".

When I became an adult I opened my home to children who bore the label "not wanted". I understood what labels do. They hang invisible over your head and become a prison for your heart. They limit your hopes and dreams. No matter where you go you believe that everyone knows the label that has been placed above your head. I welcomed the "not wanted" children into my home I wanted to share with them what I had learned about how to remove the labels.

The way I receive my labels was when I saw myself reflected in the eyes of other people. I accepted their assessment of me as truth. Then I learned to see myself reflected in the eyes of a loving God. In the words of Jeremiah 33 God says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you." God's love gave me value this is the same value I tried to share with the children who came into my home with their heads bowed low with the burden of the "not wanted" label.

From the perspective of my peers and my teachers I was "not cute" I was "not smart". But when I read God's word I received a different perspective. I learned in Psalm 139 that God formed my inward parts; that he knit me together in my mother's womb. I was made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. The knowledge that I was a reflection of God's creativity gave me value. This was the value that I longed to impart to the children who came into my home. I whispered it to them in the morning and tucked them in bed with it at night.

Lord Jesus, in your word I find that I am God's workmanship, created in you for good works, which God prepared before hand that I should do.  Thank you for redeeming the pain of the labels I received in my childhood. Dear Lord, please let me help other's see themselves reflected in your loving eyes.