Nobody

I recently heard the news that a woman I once knew and cared about is sick. She has cancer. I’m not even sure what kind. But whatever kind of cancer it is, she is very sick.

If I said her name, you wouldn’t know who she was.

How do I know?

Well…I don’t know for sure. But I doubt you would know her.

I, myself, haven’t seen her for years. But here’s what I remember about her…

She was always a very unassuming woman. She has never held the limelight in anything, so far as I know. She isn’t in to fashion, and never has been. (I’m sure she doesn’t own a pair of designer heels.) She is not wealthy. She lives alone. Her nails are yellowed from nicotine, and her gravely voice reflects her long-standing addiction. Her middle is thick and her teeth aren’t exactly white. She isn’t a Nobel peace prizewinner. She doesn’t have her own website. To most, she is probably a nobody. And now, this “nobody” has cancer.

My mind is filled with thoughts about this “nobody” this morning. For years, she was my teacher. She was also my friend. She was kind, compassionate and witty, and she influenced my life. I doubt she knows that I am writing about her this morning or even, that I am thinking of her. But I am. Though in the eyes of the world she may be a nobody, she’s a definite somebody to me.

Much more importantly, she’s a somebody to God.

Jesus says so Himself in Romans 9:25-26 when He says, “…I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies; I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved. In the place where they yelled out, ‘You’re nobody!’ they’re calling you ‘God’s living children.’” (The Message)

Though the accolades of the world will likely never find her, my friend, the “nobody,” has the eyes of Jesus gazing intently on her. He doesn’t care about her fashion sense or her social status. He doesn’t notice her fluctuating weight or her shade of teeth. When Jesus looks at her, He doesn’t see a nobody, but rather, a beautiful somebody that He dearly loves and cherishes as if she was the Queen, herself.

You are, too, by the way. Dearly loved…and cherished…and elevated by God. Lest you are finding yourself feeling like a nobody today, please remember that He is the one that calls out the “nobodies of this world” and “makes them somebodies.” Talk about a powerful endorsement!

My friend, the “nobody,” may not live to become an earthly somebody. If the cancer doesn’t take her life, eventually, something else will. But because of her relationship with Jesus Christ, her Heavenly status in the Kingdom of God trumps any and every earthly success that would give her the recognition required for you to know her name.

You can call me a “nobody” any day.