What Are You Throwing Away?

I love Ezekiel 16. Today, God took me to verses 4-5: “On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised” (NIV).

As I thought about that, He simply said to me, “You have to be taught to throw yourself away.”

My parents loved me from the beginning, but a lot of things happened in my life to make me feel like one who was despised. I began from an early age to consider myself disposable and threw away decades exploring avenues to fulfill that expectation.

I’ve experienced an incredible amount of spiritual and emotional restoration since that time. Right now I’m using Pastor Kathy Gray’s Journal to Freedom to find even more. But what can be done to raise a generation that doesn’t walk into adulthood already in a garbage bag?

I have worked with a lot of children. I love watching them--the openness, the love they give so freely, hugs and kisses and absolute trust that you will catch them when they throw themselves at you.

“You have to be taught to throw yourself away.”

But I also see children that hide their faces when you try to greet them with a hug and a smile. Ones who shy away when you move suddenly or get frightened when you raise your voice. Ones who come in dirty day after day with hair you can’t get a comb through.

“You have to be taught to throw yourself away.”

I think about the kids who love to grab hold of your leg so that you have to drag them around with you if you want to walk. Their little bottoms are being scraped along the floor, but they will not let go until you make them. Some are laughing; others cling to you from the moment you walk into the room, and you can literally watch the life drain from their eyes when you say it's time to leave.

“You have to be taught to throw yourself away.”

Our lives are so busy, our jobs are demanding, everything we see tries to claim our time and attention. And children have to learn that they are not the center of the world and cannot always be the focus of all of our attention. Yet—

Our children need us now. Take some time to figure out what you can throw away in your life today so that you can pick them up.