This morning we hear the call of the Prophet Jeremiah, the prophet who proves that wisdom is not reserved to the aged, youth can speak wisdom as well, sometimes better. The call is composed of some of the most beautiful words in the Bible.
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you
I remember reading these words as a child and finding great comfort in them. Most of us who were foster children, adopted children, given up or abandoned by our biological parents, as children wonder why they didn't want us. Phrases like "unintended pregnacy," "unwanted pregnancy," or even "accident" cut us to our very souls.
The words of Jeremiah remind us that in the eyes of God there are no unwanted pregnancies. While the human beings who conceive a child may neither intend nor want the child, God who forms the child in the mother's womb, God who places the soul in the child, has a plan. Even before a child is born, God knows that child, has a relationship with that child, loves that child, and has a mission for that child. God already sees and knows the adult that he intends that child to be.
God doesn't care who conceived us or how we were conceived. In God's eyes we are all created to be his children. That and that alone is our truest identity and the source of a dignity that can never be taken away.
How many people are walking the earth today feeling worthless because of circumstance over which they have no control. Where and how our lives began does not matter. It is what we do with our lives that counts. God told Jeremiah,
To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak.
And Jeremiah did the will of his Father. May we today recognize who our real parents are and do the will of our Father, today and every day.
