Seen

Some rights reserved by quinet

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." -Matthew 10:29-31 (NKJV)

Tiny meows and little feet.

Blank eyes and a large garbage bag.

I stop my car and you patter underneath, your wobbly legs trembling with every step, broken tail trailing behind you.

I make a U-turn in the pouring rain and you are still there, carrying your heavy burden behind you, hunched over, hobbling along the highway as drivers speed past without a second glance.

You are just an abandoned stray kitten.

You are just an old, raggedy street bum.

Nobody sees you.

Nobody cares.

Why should they? You don't contribute anything of value. Nobody would notice if you're gone. That small bundle of skin and bones that will become tomorrow's roadkill. That mentally unstable, drugged out alcoholic whose own family doesn't even want him.

No one else sees you. But I do. And I cannot. look. away.

I cannot because I have questioned my own value and worth. I have wondered if anyone would even notice if I'm gone. I have believed that my life was meaningless and that I had nothing to hope for.

I cannot look away because if I believe those things to be true about you then I would have to believe the same thing about myself.

Nobody sees your struggles. Nobody sees mine. Nobody feels your loneliness. Nobody feels mine.

But I know that cannot be true. I know I am seen, held, even... loved. And the same arms that hold me and the same eyes that see me must belong to the same person who cares for you in the same way.

The same person who says that you are not insignificant.

You are not a number. You are not a statistic.

You are not just a pile of skin and bones.

You are not your past, your mistakes, or where you came from.

I must believe those things are true for you. So I can believe the same is true for me.

So I pick you up in my arms, a squirming bundle of claws and meows. I take you home and give you a bath. I send out an e-mail asking if anyone can give you a new home. I wait and hope for someone to give you a second chance.

So I stop my car in the thunderstorm and I ask, "Encik, mana you mau pergi?". And you mumble something incoherently and although I only drop you a short way down the road and even though I wonder if you even know where you want to go and if I made any difference at all, I hope at least you will realise you are not unseen.

“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’" -Matthew 25:37-40