She sits by herself…

Her jacket wrapped around her like a protective shell.

One hand holds her cell phone….

The other runs constantly through her hair…

Twisting it unconsciously into knots.

“They can’t do this to me,” she says.

Her voice breaks…

“I know my rights.”

In this world…

We cling to our rights…

Our rights to ourselves …

We protect ourselves from worldly threats…

“… In this world you will have trouble…”  John 16:33

Living in a world of troubles…

It becomes our habit to demand our right to ourselves …

Not just in our relationship with the world…

But in our relationship with God…

“You can’t do that to me, God,” we say…

“It’s my life,” we shout, “not yours!”

We demand from God what we think are our rights…

Forgetting Jesus said…

… “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it…” Matthew 16:24-25

Why do we hesitate?

Do we think we are smarter than God?

Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?   Isaiah 40:13-14

Don’t we trust God?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.    Proverbs 3:5-6

God sees us as we hesitate…

Sees us as we doubt…

Sees us as we give our lives to the world.

And yet, He waits…

Waits for us to surrender our right to ourselves …

Waits for us to claim the only right that matters in this world and the next…

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,   John 1:12