"You is Kind. You is Smart. You is Important."



Aibileen and Mae from the movie The Help.
See http://www.thehelpmovie.com/.



"This is what the Lord says-he who created you...he who formed you: 'Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name; you are mine.'" Isaiah 43:1

Last night we enjoyed a double-feature movie date: Captain America and The Help. Both films gain four stars but there was a recurring scene in The Help that grabbed me. (Don't worry, I'm not a movie spoiler).

Three-year-old Mae Mobley was the highlight of Aibileen's mornings when she arrived for work at the Mobley's Mississippi home. Her black hands were a stark contrast to Mae's southern white complexion as she cupped them around Mae's chubby cheeks and woke her gently from sleep with her southern drawl, "'Mornin' Mae. You is kind. You is smart. You is important." And Mae would repeat, "I is kind. I is smart. I is important."

Throughout the story, this cute morning exchange became Mae's sustenance when she was rejected by her mother and felt starved for her affection. As I watched Aibileen protect Mae's heart time and again by repeating these words over her, I pictured God doing that with us; loving us like His own because we are His own.

Today's scripture says, "...he who created you...he who formed you (says) 'Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name; you are mine.'" (Isaiah 43:1 NIV) What an amazing statement! We can be rejected by our earthy family (mother, father, sister, brother, husband, wife or children) and of course, it's devastating, it's painful...all of that. But, if we have Christ as our Savior, God calls us His own. He created us and He knows us. He calls us by name and we can call Him Abba, Daddy. He cups His hands around our cheeks, looks us in the eyes and whispers, "You are kind. You are smart. You are important," and "You are mine."

Abba,
You created us. You formed us from the dust of this earth and chose to breathe life into us. You named us and we are yours. May we be drawn to you as our Daddy and know how wide, how deep, how high your love is for us.

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:17-19