"What Makes Me 'Somebody'...?"

On this past Sunday (just hours prior to unplugging from the local pastorate for a season of sabbatical that will excuse me from the pulpit and all church-related responsibility for 8 straight weeks) I shared aloud these words about giving up control and choosing solitude. The words are my personal remix of deep writings from Henri Nouwen. By the expression on many of the faces in the congregation, my vulnerable confession really resonated:

When I enter into solitude to be with God alone, I quickly discover how dependent I am.  Without the many distractions of my daily life, I can feel anxious and tense.  When nobody speaks to me, calls on me, or needs my help, I can start feeling like a nobody.  Then I begin wondering whether I am useful, valuable, and significant.  My tendency is to leave this fearful solitude quickly and get busy again to reassure myself that I am"somebody."  But that is a temptation, because what makes me somebody is not other people's responses to me but God's eternal love for me.

To claim the truth of myself I have to cling to my God in solitude as the One who makes me who I am.

Grateful

Nobody. Everybody. Somebody. Anybody.

"This is a story about four people, named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody, when Nobody did what Anybody could have done."

Billy Graham's brother testified:
"I'm just a nobody who wants to tell everybody that there's Somebody who can love anybody."

Let's Be a Blessing.
Grateful