"You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
Just think: God didn't HAVE to create you. God CHOSE to create you! Fr. Richard Rohr says,
"the absolute freedom of God allows God to create, or not to create, each creature. Its existence means God has positively chosen to create that creature, precisely as it is.
"Each creature is thus not merely one member of a genus and species, but a unique aspect of the infinite Mystery of God. God is continuously choosing each created thing specifically to exist, moment by moment."
But it's so hard to value our own individuality and giftedness. Look at the latest glossy cover of a famous magazine, and you see heavily muscled men and voluptuous women, fabulously rich and famous men and women, people who have "made it" according to the world's standards. It's enough to make you feel not only like a failure, but lazy and inept.
And how often do we mess things up for ourselves all by ourselves, by the thoughtless things we say and do!
Thank God our God is a patient God! Thank God our God gives us a lifetime to grow and evolve into being the person God has always known we could become when God created us.
If only we understood ourselves better. If only we knew right away what God sees in us! Yet who we become is not just God's doing; it's ours as well. It's a unique dance between who we are and Who God is, and it's continuously unfolding into new steps. Sister of St. Joseph and Professor Mary Beth Ingham says of this unique gift of ourselves
"It’s that which I cannot name within myself. No amount of self-help exercises will ever exhaust the mystery that is me. So, the good news is I can never figure myself out. I can always surprise myself.
"Since before the foundation of the world, God has longed to be one with us....The incarnation is God’s presence in our world—not an event of the past. The incarnation is still going on in our lives. And our vocation is to join God’s dynamic, incarnate energy in the world and to be that presence wherever we find ourselves....
"You’re just yourself. Live with it. Here I am. I’m just me and all I can do is be me. That’s the only thing I can do, and I can do it better than anybody else. If I don’t do it, nobody will do it. So often we spend our lives trying to be other people. Yet God says, 'I made you, and I like the you I’ve made, so just do your best and be yourself, and I’ll be there to help you.' It’s not something we have to do alone, but something we grow into."
This knowledge that you and I and everyone else is a unique creation in God's world gives us a head's up in appreciating the dignity of every person on earth. We can rejoice in seeing that God Light in everyone's eyes.
"Every year, Gerber holds a contest to find a cute baby to represent the company. This year, 1-year-old Lucas Warren was picked from 140,000 entries to be the 2018 Spokesbaby for the baby-food manufacturer.
"Lucas lives in Dalton, Georgia, and his dad is in the Georgia Army National Guard.
"Spc. Jason Warren is an aircraft powertrain repairer with Company D, 1st Battalion, 171st Aviation Regiment in Marietta. Warren and his wife, Cortney, submitted a photo of Lucas sitting in an overstuffed chair and sporting a polka-dot bow tie with a big smile.
"Lucas Warren, the son of Georgia National Guardsman Spc. Jason Warren, was chosen as the 2018 Gerber Spokesbaby out of more than 140,000 entries. The smile won over Gerber, the company’s chief executive and president Bill Partyka told The Washington Post." (in "Army Times.")
It's obvious too that Lucas has Down Syndrome, the first Gerber baby to be a special needs child. His parents don't see him as anything other than precious and irreplaceable. There is a certain Real Light that flashes between these parents and child, illuminating each to the other. His mother says that he smiles at everyone with great joy - no one is a stranger to him. "Cortney Warren said she is excited for the honor, but she wants her son to be recognized as the funny, outgoing, music-loving child he is. He is the kind of kid, she said, who senses if someone is upset, and will go over and deliver 'a big, old sloppy kiss. He may have Down syndrome, but he’s always Lucas first,' she said." ("The Washington Post.")
"We're hoping this will impact everyone — that it will shed a little bit of light on the special needs community and help more individuals with special needs be accepted and not limited," dad Jason Warren said. "They have the potential to change the world, just like everybody else."
Lucas is already changing the world. His parents are receiving congratulations from around the world! Mothers pregnant with Down Syndrome babies are reacting with happy tears to see this much-loved, adorable child receive acceptance.
"Highly (almost but not perfectly) accurate prenatal screening tests can reveal Down syndrome in utero. The expectant couple can then decide to extinguish the fetus and try again for a normal child that might be less trouble, at least until he or she is an adolescent with hormonal turbulence and a driver’s license.
"In Iceland, upward of 85 percent of pregnant women opt for the prenatal testing, which has produced a Down syndrome elimination rate approaching 100 percent. Agusta was one of only three Down syndrome babies born there in 2009.
"Iceland could have moved one-third of the way to its goal if only Agusta had been detected and eliminated. Agusta’s mother is glad the screening failed in her case.
"An Iceland geneticist says 'we have basically eradicated' Down syndrome people, but regrets what he considers 'heavy-handed genetic counseling' that is influencing 'decisions that are not medical, in a way.'
"One Icelandic counselor 'counsels' mothers as follows: 'This is your life. You have the right to choose how your life will look like.' She says, “We don’t look at abortion as a murder. We look at it as a thing that we ended.' Which makes Agusta and Lucas (Warren) 'things' that were not 'ended.'"
Some days, I feel as if I'm not thinking straight. Some days, I feel as if I'm emotionally "slow" in the ways I choose to interact with people. Some days, I despair and wonder why I'm even here on earth because I've made such a mess of things.
Thank God that God does not need perfection in any way from me, or think I deserve elimination. God only wants me to be the best I can be at each moment. Who are we human beings, then, to demand our own idea of "perfection" from other human beings - and eliminate them if they don't "measure up"?
How important it is for me - and you - to remember at self-doubting times (because I'm sure you have them too) that we're not a "mistake." God created us, all of us. God specifically chose to place us in this world to be LIGHTS to this world. To use our gifts - and yes, we ALL have them! - to bring people the light of love, the light of joy, the light of compassion. And that's simple, really, once we get our own self-doubts and self-importance out of the way. Anyone, regardless of their various doubts, disabilities, illnesses, age, sex, race, or sexual orientation, can be a blazing beacon of love and joy and compassion in this world.
God always looks at who we are first, not as the world sees us but as He sees us. God always calls each of us, not generically, but BY NAME.
God wants what we alone can give God and this world: ourselves. Just like Lucas and Agusta.