YOU ARE WORTHY OF CONNECTION

As hard as it can be to wrap our minds around the fullness of what “grace” means, the beautiful thing is, we don’t have to. Instead, we can look up to a sky filled with silver stars, and say, “in this beautiful, majestic world, by grace, I belong here, too.” 

We can look around and see how everyone else’s lives seemed to be filled with intention and forward movement, and we can also look into our own hearts filled with the broken pieces that we are still praying to heal from, and say, “I know even here, I still matter. Even here, I have purpose. I have not been forgotten. I belong in this life just as much as anyone else.”

No matter how you feel today, or tonight, may you know this to be true:

If you happen to feel small

when you look up to the stars,
I hope you know it’s okay to feel that way.
It’s okay 
if you don’t always feel

bold or strong or great,

because the truth is,

just like the stars, you will shine on anyway.

You will matter when you are seen,

you will matter when you are not.

You will matter when they care,

you will matter when they do not.

Altogether, you will matter.

Under a billion silver stars,

you are never too small to be great

even when you feel that way.

May you find peace in knowing there will be people that never make room for you, but that does not mean there’s no place for you to belong. There will be days that are harder for you to fully engage in than others, but even when you were not able to give all that you wanted to, it is not a strike against you. You haven’t been pushed out. You haven’t been restricted from waking up tomorrow and giving it another try. Every day, you have the opportunity to belong, and learn what it means to belong, over and over again. Trust that even when friend groups change, or when you move to a new city, or you find yourself battling an unexplainable sense of loneliness, you are still worthy of belonging. There are more people out there. There are connections waiting to be ignited that you have yet to see.

Word of the day: Belong (v) "to be a member or part of" (Oxford English Dictionary)
Affirmation: “I belong. I am worthy of connection.”
Journal: When was the last time you felt like you truly belonged?

More in this week's series called "Welcoming the Good, Welcoming the Grace", only with a subscription in the Storyteller App.

Sincerely,
Morgan Harper Nichols
@thestorytellerco
@morganharpernichols