Audience of One

"Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!"  Psalm 116:2

As a little girl, I often received special attention in school for being smart.  I loved the attention, and basked in it.  It made snagging the coveted position of teacher's pet almost a guarantee, and I enjoyed every minute of the audience it gave me with my classmates.

When I went off to college, it seemed almost everyone there was Valedictorian, Class President, National Merit Scholar, and no one noticed I was smart anymore.  Graduating into the work world, no one even thought I was smart anymore.  There was no audience of my peers.  Most of the time, they didn't even notice me.

Even though the people around me didn't seem to notice, there was someone who did.

God.

We all do things at times just so that others will notice us, like us, pay attention to us or something we are excited about.  Otherwise, social media wouldn't exist.  But, I've discovered that all the attention in the world is meaningless if God doesn't notice me--and He ALWAYS does. 

In the Holy Bible, when Sarai sent her servant, Hagar, away into the wilderness to die--God saw her, too, and the way she was mistreated.  Genesis 16:13 tells us, "Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?”

Even if no one else in all the world notices us, sees us, or listens to what we have to say, we have an audience of One--the One that matters--now and always.

Goodnight, Runners.