Have you ever received a gift from someone and as you opened it you knew that the giver “knew you?” They had put thought into this gift. They understood who you are and this gift reminded them of you. It was like your name was on it. Well I have. I remember the first Willow Tree angel I received from a woman in our church. Our church is large so she didn’t know me real well except from hearing me lead worship or speak. We had had some conversations and fellowship together but we didn’t spend regular time together.
The angel was for my birthday. “How thoughtful” I mused as I picked up the gift bag wondering what it could be. Then I saw the words Willow Tree Angel and I knew it was an angel. I collected angels but how did she know? As soon as I opened the Styrofoam and lay my eyes on the form of this simple white washed wooden angel holding an open black book close to her heart I gasped “she knows me.” Tears came to my eyes and after reading the tag “Angel of Learning” I wept. Someone sees me, knows me, understands me and now, affirms me. She gets me. This nameless woman understood that not only am I a woman who loves the Word but I have a passion for learning. That passion had come through in my life without me drawing attention to it.
As women we long to be known or understood. It makes us feel affirmed or connected. If we are not known then we are just another body in the crowd, another blank face. But when someone knows and affirms your personhood that is special. A message was flowing from me, “learning is important” and someone had received and communicated their understanding of the message.
Unfortunately, we live in a culture so self-absorbed that giving attention or affirmation to others is almost a lost art. We interrupt instead of listening. We steal ego food while someone is sharing their experience and share an experience even bigger. We’re not listening with our ears must less our hearts.
However, we as women are wired to listen with our hearts, to notice, to sense what others are sensing without them saying a word. We know what they are thinking, feeling. We empathize and reach out with a touch, a card or a gift that says “I saw you in the crowd, I know you and I understand.” What a ministry of the heart.
David in Psalm 139 must have felt the validation or affirmation of the Lord as he wrote, “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. “
Without David speaking, God knew the words on his tongue because God knows our thoughts. He knows us inside and out. He knit us together in our Mother’s womb. He knows the strands of DNA that determine our intellect, emotions, will, passions, gifts, talents and interests – our very personality. He is intimately familiar with us. He knows our anxious thoughts. He feels our pain. He understands our hopes and dreams. Because He knows us -- really knows us, He gives us gifts that are perfect for us. Gifts of friends, words of encouragement or hope, sunsets or sunrises, sunshine and breezes, moonlight and roses. Butterflies or red birds appear out of no where to remind us “I see you, I know you, I understand you – I get you and I approve.”
