FATHER HAS DRAWN US INTO A FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM THAT IS UNIQUE. THIS MESSAGE IS ANOINTED. THE QUICKENING THAT IS PRESENT AT THE SHACK IS FATHER’S BLESSING AND PROVISIO.

Those of my kids who are aware enough of the world around them to “measure” themselves against the lie see themselves as damaged, as broken, as incapable, and as worthless. These children are of “normal” intelligence and, in many ways, excell at things outside the realm of school but still see themselves as not being able to “do anything right”. It absolutely breaks my heart each time one of these wonderful, unique kids sees themselves as fatally flawed as a result of not being able to “do” something expected of them.

And this lie of worth by performance perpetuated, in most cases, by those closest to the child – parents, grandparents, teachers, peers – sets into the very fibers of their being. My High School students have such difficulty seeing themselves as valuable that I often feel like a small wave lapping at the bottom of a very large granite cliff. My every affirmation of their “ability” wears ever so slowly against the hundred of affirmations of their “inability”. Every comment I make regarding their uniqueness and infinite worth is met with the skepticism and cynicism born of stuble, and not so subtle, dismissals as broken. In the rare case I have broken through and been able to help a child see their gifts, their uniqueness, their value, but the task is daunting. All because mankind has bought into this lie.

A lie that is horizontal rather than vertical. Its so much easier for us to be “human doings” than it is to be “human beings”. Its so much easier to compare ourselves with others as a way of relating to others; and not just to others but to our own insecurities. So much easier than seeing as Papa sees….that indescribable variation that is uniquely ours. The performance lie “allows” us to dismiss others rather than take the time to really see others. The lie convinces us that there are individuals that are beneath our notice, that we are somehow more worthy of the “good” things in life than those we deem to be “not up to standard”, and thereby, allows us to ignore those situations or conditions that would break our hearts and stir us to action if we took the time to truly look at them.

So many of my severely involved students, those considered by the world to be the most damaged and the most worthly because of their inabilities, are more free than any of those of us who are “normal” or “capable”. They’re more free because they’re content with themselves. Somehow they retain that sense of themselves as unique and valuable we all have as young children. And yet, in a world where the spector of euthaniasia is never far away, they….the ones most free…..are the ones who would be “destroyed” for the “good of the society”.