Other

Have you ever arrived on scene wearing your perfectly good Mukluks from 1987, and looked around to see all the girls in their stylish Blundstones with the comfy ankle elastic?

Other

Does the conversation quiet when you enter the crowd? Another reminder that you’re the only unmarried one left in your group?

Other

Maybe, it’s been a long week and all your co-workers are making plans to finally go out for lunch. But because of government mandates, you’re not allowed.

Other

We all want to belong, don’t we? To be part of a tribe where we’re accepted for who we are including our decisions, opinions, and thoughts. We love walking into a room of friends where we just “click together” like jigsaw puzzle pieces, or lego (depending on your season of life.) Breathe deep and step in; with our guards finally down, we seamlessly merge into something warm and wonderful.

I’m not the first woman to feel “other.”

I often think of the disgraced lady, famous for her mid-day water run in Samaria so many years ago. I’ll call her Jill. You know, because of the whole “well on a hill” thing.

Her reputation was scandalous. Multiple marriages, followed by divorce. Her shame resonates deep in my soul. Jill didn’t fetch water in the cool of the morning, or in the evening breeze. She trudged alone up the hill in the blazing sun to avoid the biting scorn of the town women.

Other

Jesus knew this. He knew everything about Jill.

• Pain
• Rejection
• Shame
• Discrimination

Yet, He ignored the cultural laws of the day and strategically mapped his way to that very well, at that precise time, to speak with that exact woman. He offered her living water, to satisfy and give her life, and it changed her forever. And Jesus chose her to be the very first person to hear that He was the Messiah, and many of the townspeople believed because of it.

Sister, is your heart heavy today with the weight of feeling “other?” Do you feel Unaccepted? Unheard? Unsupported? I hear you. I feel you. I understand.

If you don’t feel like this today, just look around. There is likely someone next to you who is bearing this burden.

And just like Jesus pursued that Samaritan woman, He pursues women today with His endless unconditional love. The kind of love that He commands us to lavish upon each other.

For this, I am eternally thankful.

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.
1Peter 3:8