Graffiti

Tkty. Clunk. Tkty. Clunk. Tkty.Clunk. Tkty. The children and I listened to the rapid, deep, monotonous tone of the train wheels along the train track, watching it speed along side of our car, as we headed to school this morning.

“Mom? Do bad, troubled people write all that stuff on the cars of the train?” my ten year old son asked. We talked about graffiti for a bit and how graffiti is usually not good. It is commonly associated with people vandalizing, destroying or not respecting other people’s property.

Since then, visions of graffiti have clicked through my mind all day. I think we all have graffiti in our lives. Like the train cars, our hearts have been spray painted with messages by people who are troubled themselves. We travel through life past different scenery - over mountains of hope, in to valleys of despair, across the plains of apathy, over bridges of desire and through forests of confusion. We carry on through different seasons, in all sorts of weather, wearing this graffiti. Our hearts have been vandalized by words that we have heard, going with us wherever we go, and these words have stuck.

We are damaged with messages like, you are not a priority. You are not valued. You are stupid. You are too slow. You are not smart enough. You are ugly. Your feet are too big. Your nose is crooked. Your family is poor. Your hair is funny. You don’t have anything to offer. You are a looser. You are not gifted. You are not worth my time. You are different. You are not special. You are not worth loving.

The truth is, however, that the valuable cargo that the train carries is not at all determined by what is said by the graffiti on the outside of the car. And so it is with us, dear reader. We have these messages – these lies – put upon us either by the words or actions of others that are not true and they do not define who we are. They do not reflect who we are. They are ugly marks of graffiti.

Who we are inside is what matters. Sometimes we forget and believe the lies that others have placed upon us, but God does not forget. God knows who we are. He made us. He loves us, with an everlasting, never-stopping, always seeking, never-abandoning love. We are a priority to God. He has a plan for our lives and lovely things for us. He wants us to believe what He says about us, not what others say. We are valuable to Him. We are His treasured possession (Deuteronomy 7:6).

Take time today and ask the Lord to help you face the graffiti that is written on your heart and ask Him to show you who you really are. God knows the precious cargo that you are, He created you, and He desires to write new words of truth on your heart. There are those who may vandalize and disrespect you, but God wants to revitalize you. Listen to Him, dearest reader, and believe in His tender love for you.