Words by Paula Roten

I had grandmother duty recently: school pick-up. I could tell a block away that something was wrong. The boy got in the car, quiet and sullen. The girl got in and the tears and words instantly spilled at the same time. Mean girl stuff had occurred, actions and words. But the worst of it was that the mean girl had said, "You're useless! You aren't worth anything!"

The boy didn't volunteer his problems. But as I gently probed, I discovered his day had been just as bad. Everything from a substitute teacher, to someone intentionally messing with his stuff, to name calling too. He had been called the S word. "Stupid."

This Granna's heart broke to hear how words had hurt these children. Mean words. Lies. 

You're useless.

You'll never amount to anything.

You're slow.

You'll never find anybody to marry you.

You can't ever do anything right.

You'll never be good enough.

You can't possibly raise those children.

There's no way you can make him happy.

Stupid.

Loser.

Failure.

Hopeless Case. 

Sound familiar? Yeah, I thought you might have heard them as well. They're lies, too. Straight from the Father of Lies. 

This mean girl-bad boy name calling reminded me of a book by Max Lucado, You Are Special. In it the Wemmicks all give each other stars for being pretty or talented and dots for lack of beauty or no talent or ability. But there's one girl whose stars and dots won't stick. Try as they might, the Wemmicks can't get the stars and dots to stick on her. You see, she goes to see her Maker everyday. He says, "The stickers only stick if they matter to you. The more you trust my love, the less you care about their stickers...Remember, you are special because I made you. And I don't make mistakes."

God doesn't make mistakes. These precious children aren't mistakes, I'm not, and you aren't either. Let's quit believing Satan's lies and instead believe our Creator who tells us in Ephesians 2:10 that we are His masterpiece. Let's visit Him everyday so His words can drown out those of the world.