Ignored

I actually began this post quite some time ago. I wrote it - and then deleted it - several times. I think I must have been in the middle of some giant pity party when I began writing. The reason for the pity party is long since forgotten. But the reason for the deleting was that way too much of my pity party was showing through! So in the interest of "speaking [or writing] only that which is good for building up" (see Ephesians 4:29), the "delete" button was given a workout!

All that got me started thinking about pity parties in general. About why we have these pity parties. I'm sure that varies from person to person. There are likely as many reasons to feel sorry for oneself as there are people! It might have to do with a bad medical diagnosis. Or it might have to do with personal relationships or a break-up. Maybe it comes as result of financial hardship or a job lay-off. It could be that no matter how hard you try, you can't lose weight. Or maybe it's just that you hate your hair color, or wish you were taller or shorter or maybe you're just tired. So many different reasons for a pity party.

Maybe it all starts because we feel ignored. By friends. Or by family. Maybe we weren't invited to a birthday party or a family gathering. Maybe nobody called. Maybe we didn't get picked to be on the team.  

Being ignored......no matter the reason......can really set off a flood of emotions, and can often lead to our feeling sorry for ourselves......the classic "pity party".

Did you ever stop to consider how God must feel when He's ignored?  He often is, you know.  I'm not meaning to suggest that God feels sorry for Himself. I don't mean that at all.  But I do mean to suggest that perhaps the next time we're feeling pitiful because someone ignored us or didn't pay attention to our request or didn't do things the way we wanted them done (or any other of the myriad reasons we feel sorry for ourselves), perhaps we should stop and consider our own behavior. As in.....if I am having a pity party because I feel that someone in my circle of family or friends is ignoring me and not including me in family plans, perhaps I should stop and consider whether or not I, however unintentionally, might have given them reason for that behavior.

But let's go deeper. Let's take the focus off ourselves. Off all the times we feel as if we have been ignored.  What about all those times when we ignore God?

When we never stopped to think of Him? Or what He might think about a particular choice?
When we didn't say "thank you"?
When we didn't consult His opinion?
When we didn't include Him in our activity or our thoughts or our decisions?

Those things probably happen much more often than we would like to admit. But the reality is that when we choose one thing, we have to ignore another. When we choose to spend our time going to the gym rather than having a morning quiet time, we have made a conscious decision that one of those things is more important than the other.   

Yes, physical exercise is important. But how much more so is spiritual "exercise"! It doesn't have to be an either/or decision. But we do have to prioritize what's most important and order all our activites based on that priority. Which means that we can't say God is most important and then put time with Him at the bottom end of our daily "to do" list. We can't say "I love God", and then fail to spend any time with Him.

If you continually ignore your friends or family, and if you continually neglect to spend time with them or call them or include them in your invitations, what would that say about your relationship?

And if you continually ignore your relationship with the Lord and continually neglect spending time with Him and continually fail to include Him in your thoughts or activities, what does that say about the quality of your relationship?

Something to think about.

"For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him."  (2 Chronicles 30:9b ESV)