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Psalm 41
Isaiah 43:18-25
2 Corinthians 9:18-22
Mark 2:1-12

When my son was a small child someone told him he looked exactly like me. He replied, 'But I?m a boy.' I had to explain that we had similarities that made us look alike.

He was also told it was a special blessing to look like his mom.

So the next time someone made a comment about the similarities between us he flashed a big ear to ear smile, and said, 'That?s okay, if I get lost, people will know who I belong to.'

Many children experience separation anxiety, and my son was no exception. For three years he did not want to be separated from me.

This is much like our relationship with Christ ? no matter how far we stray, we are marked by the blood, and that can?t be taken from us.

In 2 Corinthians 9:22, Paul mentions two gifts God gives us when we become believers. The first is a seal of ownership to show who our master is and the second one is the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that we belong to God.

Paul also reminds us that by belonging to God comes a great responsibility of identifying ourselves as faithful representatives and servants of our Master, and we shouldn?t be ashamed to let others know we belong to God.

I think some young people have it right when they speak of representing. They use it as a slang phrase: 'I?m here to represent.'

For them it means that they are the best at what they do ? unashamed, energetic and proud, whether it is excelling in the classroom, sports or even offering a friend a helping hand.

As Christians we should follow suit. God made us for a purpose and it was not just to place priority on ourselves, but to reach beyond ourselves and lift others up.

God wants us to serve him in the area of our calling, unashamed, with joy and enthusiasm. Real living comes when we reach out to others, treat them with courtesy and respect, no matter what station of life they are from.

In doing so we honor God, and God will give us what we need along with all the gifts of living. As stated in Psalm 41:1, 'Blessed is he that considers the poor. The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.'

We are busy people, yes. We do 'busy' well and the thought of adding one more to-do item to our list of an already full agenda seems overwhelming. Consider this: Jesus bore the cross alone, but he focused on the joy before him.

Jan Carlberg said this most eloquently, 'There?s something deep within us that loves to be first, to win, to be in. We elbow up through degrees, titles, possessions, rights,privileges, connections, seniority and the like. But once we reach our goals, then what? God doesn?t separate us from those who are lower on the career ladder than we are. He tells us to pull them up with us.'

When is the last time we 'represented,' or flashed an ear-to-ear smile to let others know that we belong to our Creator.

Sheila Hawkins is the receptionist at the Baltimore-Washington Conference Center and a member of St. Matthew?s UMC in Dundalk.