Finally "C"

C is for Close


Being perfectly honest, "C" has been a challenge for me. So many words have come to me but none really felt right. I started to write about how God is confident. Then, words like compassionate and captivating would come along. Like I said, nothing felt right.

But just the other day, when I was making my bed before heading off to school, it came to me. "God is close". Just like that. Nothing profound or even remotely deep. God is close.

I started to think back to a time in my life, not so long ago, where I felt anything but close to God. I never doubted His existence but I wasn't actively seeking Him either. To tell the truth, He was not on my Top Ten List. Then that summer, I hit rock bottom. A place I was unfamilar with and, quite frankly, a little scared of. I felt alone and in desperate need of something. Then, while I was still sinking, something happened that brought me to understand a little more of God.

I was encouraged to reread the book "You Are Special" by Max Lucado. You know the one about Punchinello, the Wemick. A children's book. Punchinello feels very alone and unworthy of love. Until that is, he is encouraged to visit the one who created him. Punchinello takes a visit to the creator's workshop, albeit a little reluctantly (but isn't that the way it always is at first?). There is where he meets Eli, the woodworker. Eli tells the little Wemick that he is loved and that there is no one else quite like him. And, Eli should know. He created Punchinello. He put him together. Gave him his talents and abilities. Created his mind and his heart. Eli tells Punchinello the key to remembering this special fact is to visit Eli everyday. Eli desires to remind Punchinello that he loves him. He wants to stay close to the Wemick and he wants the Wemick to stay close to him.

I believe that God desires the same. I believe that He hurts when we fail to realize we are special. Special to him because He made us. God so strongly wants to be close to us that He sent His son to die on a cross. A sacrifice so great that only way to repay it, the only way God wants us to repay it, is to come close and remain close to Him.

Looking back on that summer, I have come to understand that God was never far away. He was simply waiting. Waiting for me to come closer.