You’re the message”

I love highlighters. They jump out of the drawer and right into my hand. I have lots of yellow and a few green and blue and a pink one. I highlight a lot. Highlighting something intends for it to jump off the page and grab you. So if and when I highlight something it needs to be a wow factor! Sometimes I look back at what I have highlight and I wonder how sleep deprived I was at the time. And then other times when I open my Bible the highlighted text is just what I needed. Today, I opened my Bible to where I am reading in the New Testament and all I could see through very tired eyes was “You’re the message.”

There are lots of other words on the page but that jumps out right off the page with yellow neon highlighter. It’s been a long month of May. It’s been hospital time for most of the month. It started with grandpa May 1 and ended with aunt Shirley passing May 25. I was there. Seems like the highlighter spend a lot of time on the page. We are what people are. We are the message. Lots of things went on the back burner this month but the obvious message was family matters. That’s was the message it sent. Shirley has no children; never married but the nurses that helped care for her were amazed at the amount of people coming and going. It sent a message. Perhaps it was the fun we had, the laughter, the dedication, the picture on the white board; all of it sent a message. I had the honor of being there with her when she passed. It sent a message. There were many places I could have been but I changed plans to help was her home. Many others made the trek to see her, left their normal lives and their being there night and day left a message. Loving someone trumps other plans.

Our actions send messages. Sometimes the message isn’t one we wanted sent. Other times it’s the flat out simple truth that isn’t missed by others. 1 Thess. 1 reminds us that we are sending a message about what God has done in our lives… it’s going out; be sure it’s the one you are intending to send. And for goodness sake go buy highlighters. They are so much fun!