God's Perspective
Stories
Contents
"God's Perspective" by Peter Andrew Smith
* * * * * * * *
God's Perspective
by Peter Andrew Smith
Psalm 8
There once was a man who lived a quiet life doing things that were neither noteworthy nor important. He was not a great man who changed the course of history or a terrible one that people reviled. No one looked at him as a role model or an example but at the same time no one hated or despised him either. Most people actually never noticed him. He was not overly attractive or particularly ugly. He was simply a plain, ordinary man living a plain, ordinary life.
One day he was coming home from work thinking thoughts that were neither important nor unimportant when he saw a woman he had never seen before sitting on his front step. She stood as he came closer, gave him a dazzling smile, and said, "You are special and loved by God." She then walked passed him and disappeared around the corner.
The man stared after her for a few moments. Then he shrugged his shoulders and dug into his pocket for his keys. He went into his apartment and made himself a rather unremarkable meal. He turned on the television and began to watch as he always did after work. Yet he couldn't concentrate on the programs because he kept thinking about the woman and her message. Why did she say that to him? What was it that made him special? The more he thought about it the more he wondered if she was simply playing a joke on him but that didn't explain her sincerity as she smiled and spoke.
He finally concluded that she must be one of those people who have trouble with reality because the more he considered himself, his abilities, and his life he could not imagine why God would consider him special much less why God would bother loving such an unremarkable person as him. Surely God thought the smart people, the beautiful people, the talented people were special and those were the people who God loved. He was just an ordinary man who lived an ordinary, unremarkable life. So he decided to think nothing more of it so that things could get back to normal.
Except he found that he couldn't. The next morning he was still thinking of those words and what they might mean. He began to wonder if it was true that God loved him and God thought that he was special. That is when he began to notice things he had never noticed before.
As he walked from his house he saw how beautiful the sky was and how remarkable the flowers and trees were on his street. He listened to the birds singing and felt the gentle breeze as it played with his hair. He took a deep breath and felt pleasure in the day before him. Yet it didn't stop there. When he waited for the bus there were some people who nodded to him when he nodded at them. An older man sitting next to him wished him a good day when they arrived at his stop.
At work things were even more unusual. He found himself paying attention to what he was doing and amazed at how much he accomplished. He knew that what he did wasn't anything earth shattering or life changing but he had done his work well. The tasks he finished allowed other people to do their work and helped create something larger. Then the most remarkable thought entered his head unexpectedly. Maybe he wasn't as ordinary as he thought. That possibility as well as the memory of what the woman said about God loving him and him being special caused his heart to race and his step to become a bit quicker.
He was smiling when he took the bus home. That's when he noticed other people were smiling at him. The man felt happy for the first time in a long time. He didn't know why God loved him and why God might think he was special but he realized the reasons didn't matter. All that mattered was that he knew God cared about him.
When the bus went past a church the man realized that knowing wasn't enough. He needed to go to church on Sunday to thank God. Thank God for the love that the man felt and the fact that the man finally knew that he was special. Then and there the man realized that through faith his ordinary life had the potential to be remarkable.
Peter Andrew Smith is an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada who currently serves at St. James United Church in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. He is the author of All Things Are Ready (CSS), a book of lectionary-based communion prayers, as well as many stories and articles, which can be found listed at www.peterandrewsmith.com.
*****************************************
StoryShare, January 1, 2013, issue.
Copyright 2013 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
"God's Perspective" by Peter Andrew Smith
* * * * * * * *
God's Perspective
by Peter Andrew Smith
Psalm 8
There once was a man who lived a quiet life doing things that were neither noteworthy nor important. He was not a great man who changed the course of history or a terrible one that people reviled. No one looked at him as a role model or an example but at the same time no one hated or despised him either. Most people actually never noticed him. He was not overly attractive or particularly ugly. He was simply a plain, ordinary man living a plain, ordinary life.
One day he was coming home from work thinking thoughts that were neither important nor unimportant when he saw a woman he had never seen before sitting on his front step. She stood as he came closer, gave him a dazzling smile, and said, "You are special and loved by God." She then walked passed him and disappeared around the corner.
The man stared after her for a few moments. Then he shrugged his shoulders and dug into his pocket for his keys. He went into his apartment and made himself a rather unremarkable meal. He turned on the television and began to watch as he always did after work. Yet he couldn't concentrate on the programs because he kept thinking about the woman and her message. Why did she say that to him? What was it that made him special? The more he thought about it the more he wondered if she was simply playing a joke on him but that didn't explain her sincerity as she smiled and spoke.
He finally concluded that she must be one of those people who have trouble with reality because the more he considered himself, his abilities, and his life he could not imagine why God would consider him special much less why God would bother loving such an unremarkable person as him. Surely God thought the smart people, the beautiful people, the talented people were special and those were the people who God loved. He was just an ordinary man who lived an ordinary, unremarkable life. So he decided to think nothing more of it so that things could get back to normal.
Except he found that he couldn't. The next morning he was still thinking of those words and what they might mean. He began to wonder if it was true that God loved him and God thought that he was special. That is when he began to notice things he had never noticed before.
As he walked from his house he saw how beautiful the sky was and how remarkable the flowers and trees were on his street. He listened to the birds singing and felt the gentle breeze as it played with his hair. He took a deep breath and felt pleasure in the day before him. Yet it didn't stop there. When he waited for the bus there were some people who nodded to him when he nodded at them. An older man sitting next to him wished him a good day when they arrived at his stop.
At work things were even more unusual. He found himself paying attention to what he was doing and amazed at how much he accomplished. He knew that what he did wasn't anything earth shattering or life changing but he had done his work well. The tasks he finished allowed other people to do their work and helped create something larger. Then the most remarkable thought entered his head unexpectedly. Maybe he wasn't as ordinary as he thought. That possibility as well as the memory of what the woman said about God loving him and him being special caused his heart to race and his step to become a bit quicker.
He was smiling when he took the bus home. That's when he noticed other people were smiling at him. The man felt happy for the first time in a long time. He didn't know why God loved him and why God might think he was special but he realized the reasons didn't matter. All that mattered was that he knew God cared about him.
When the bus went past a church the man realized that knowing wasn't enough. He needed to go to church on Sunday to thank God. Thank God for the love that the man felt and the fact that the man finally knew that he was special. Then and there the man realized that through faith his ordinary life had the potential to be remarkable.
Peter Andrew Smith is an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada who currently serves at St. James United Church in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. He is the author of All Things Are Ready (CSS), a book of lectionary-based communion prayers, as well as many stories and articles, which can be found listed at www.peterandrewsmith.com.
*****************************************
StoryShare, January 1, 2013, issue.
Copyright 2013 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
