I saw the above photo on Facebook last night, and the words struck me directly through the heart. It grieved me deeply because I instantly knew that the child I was would be heartbroken over the woman I became, and that because I abandoned her.
On asking myself the above question, what came back to me was an image of the child within saying, with a sad countenance, “Why did you abandon me? Why did you leave me? Why did you give up on me…?”
...I walked out on me. That may sound odd, but it's true. I gave up on me. Others rejected the child I was and deemed her unworthy of love and I believed them; I took their side and joined them in belittling her. I didn't become who "she" knew she could be. I didn't allow "her", or enable her, to live out her dreams - not all of them, anyhow. Motherhood I went for and got - and no one was going to stop me with that... I didn't live up to her potential, to my own potential. I rejected me... And I deeply regret that. Today, I not only take the time to embrace her, to embrace who I really am, I also take the this day to open up the cage door I placed her behind, knowing that life's not over yet, second chances can and will be found, and I am free to be me and to live life more abundantly.
Even if all the world gives up on us, even if we are rejected again and again, we owe it to the child within to allow ourselves to grow to our full potential. We owe it to ourselves to release our full potential, no matter what has come against us in life; no matter what has come to hinder us from doing so; no matter what has been cast at us, or has come at us in order to knock us down and keep us there.
I grew up with a strong sense of worthlessness and carried that way into adulthood, but I look back now at the little girl I was, at the trusting nature she once held, at the hopes and dreams and the longing to love and to be loved that was hers, and, in the midst of deep regret and sorrow, as I see the sense of rejection she holds because of me, I realise she is worth fighting for; she is worth loving; she is worth all the battles I must face in order for her to be free. She is worth it. I am worth it. You are worth it. Our children are worth it. God’s children are worth it.
GOD deems us worth it...