Watching Ants

I was in the first grade, but it still stings.  I always was a talker and my first grade teacher asked me to stand outside because I was talking while she was talking.  It was early in the day and I had already ticked her off.

Obediently, I stood outside and purposed to stand away from the window, because as a little obnoxious kid, I was embarrassed that I had been publicly banished from the class room.  I didn’t want people to see me.

At first it was fun.  I listened to the birds chirp.  I watched ants crawl on the ground.  My education had been diminished to watching ants.  But soon, minutes became hours.  I thought the punishment was going a bit long.  Finally, it occurred to my six year old mind, I had been forgotten.  After an eternity, I cracked open the door and with a squeamish look of desperation, my eyes appealed to the warden to let me out of solitary confinement.  

When my teacher saw my face, her puzzlement marked me.  She realized I had been outside for more than two hours.  She was horrified.  I was confused.  How had she forgotten me?  Worse, why had not the class said, “Can Jason come back in?”

Take a casual look around our culture.  You will see hundreds of faces forgotten and now isolated into the solitary confinement of their mind.  

Jesus loves those in our society that have been forgotten.  I was recently in Africa and I remember walking the streets and seeing so many children that had been forgotten by everyone.  

Kids thrown away.   People forgotten.  The broken ignored…   

Abandoned.

Forgotten.

So many are marginalized, forsaken, and forgotten.  I have made the mistake of viewing the world the way I view my street.   Our view of the world is similar to how we see our neighborhood.   I don’t see AIDS inflicted Africa starving to death on my street, so the old cliché plays out true, “out of sight out of mind.”  It’s not acceptable, but it is accurate. 

It is one thing to be forgotten, it is an even greater atrocity to be ignored.  For me, the only thing that is worse than being forgotten is to be ignored.  It is worse than being forgotten.  To be ignored implies choice.  “Though I see the condition of humanity, I choose to ignore.” 

Forgotten and ignored.

I am stirred because of Jesus’ compassion for the forgotten.  It is why we wrote about it in Jesus Loves You This I Know.  Today, look around.  Remember the forgotten.  Look for those whose have no advocate and listen to how their silence screams for hope.  Then act.  In that moment, you are Jesus’ love extended.

Hit the home page and grab a downloadable chapter.  Read it.  Pass it on.  The best tool we have to communicate Hope is your voice.  Your influence matters to us.

Much Hope,

Jason Harper

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