Being needed (Part 2)

"It embittered me that the Fox should even desire to leave me.  He had been the central pillar of my whole life, something (I thought) as sure and established, and indeed as little thanked, as sunrise and the mere earth.  In my folly I had thought I was to him as he was to me.  'Fool,' I said to myself. 'Have you not learned that you are that to no one?'" 
Orual, from "Till We Have Faces."

I understand Orual’s feelings because I’ve felt the same way.  I wanted to know if I’m mutually needed by the people I love.  Orual loved three people desperately, but these three people seemed ok without her.

Bardia had his wife to go home to.

Lysias had his freedom in Greece.

Psyche had a god she worshipped.

But who wanted to come home to Orual?

Who felt free with Orual alone?

Who loved and worshipped her? Who couldn’t live without her?

Who loved Orual desperately?

No one.

No one seemed to need Orual. 

I know how she feels.

But praise God, I do have people who need me!

My wife.  My children.  My supervisors.

I make a very real difference in their lives, as much as they do for me.

I thank God for giving me the honor of being needed.

I thank him for “needing” me in the sense that he has left certain things up to me.

If I don’t love Lucy as her husband, she has no other husband to love her.

If I don’t provide for and protect my children, they have no other father on earth.

If I don’t come to work, my supervisor must replace me.

My presence and absence make a difference

There are people and things that depend on me alone.

Even God’s image in me is up to me to express.  If I don’t express God in the way God made me to, no one in the universe can or will.  I am the only me for all eternity, in heaven, on earth, in hell, and in all of creation.  I am a unique and single divine reflection. 

I thank God for this honor very much. 

I occupy this space and time.  This will always be the case. 

The one and only husband and father and officer. 

The one and only man that I am.

Wherever I am, I reflect God in a way that no one else can. 

And how is that?

Me!

Just by being here, being me.  Doing what I do and saying what I say how I say it!

Hallelujah!

I am a man, the image and likeness and glory of God.

As long as I don’t contradict this, God is present and reflected wherever I am. 

This is true of you.

Be happy with me that you are needed!