The Courage of Esther

 Our family has been hearing from the Father that we should reach out more. 

    -that we need to be His hands and feet

    -that God can use us even as the unique and peculiar people we are. 

We are still determining exactly what that means, and how to do it. 

It is so quiet and comfortable here on the mountain. My husband has lived here his whole life. As a young child, he spent hours playing alone in the yard. When he was a teenager he would often escape into the woods for days. He would take a few packages of Ramen Noodles and a fishing pole and hop on his dirt bike. I have lived here for 22 years now, and I understand why it is so hard for him to leave this hill. Our girls are young adults and love this mountain as much as their Dad. Our 11-year-old son is the only extrovert in the family, but, even he prefers to stay home.

 

The trees never complain about our singing and never interrupt us when we share our thoughts out loud. The deer are also very easy to communicate with. The creek doesn't pout and say we don't visit often enough. The rain comes and goes as it pleases and never needs to be entertained. 

But, people are intimidating sometimes. Maybe it is because we know ourselves. We know we have prejudices and flaws. We know we get annoyed easily. And, if WE have those unhospitable feelings, OTHERS probably do too! Maybe THEY would prefer to be left alone as well.

My oldest daughter took the assignment seriously this Purim.

Most of our friends and relatives don't celebrate this little-known (at least in our circle) holiday. But, we were reminded that it is okay to embrace our uniqueness. 

It ended up being a good start to this assignment. 

We made up several little packages to distribute. Our list of friends and neighbors who might appreciate them somehow grew to about a dozen. Nothing fancy. Just a little box, or bag with a few yummy treats and a homemade card painted by our thoughtful Rebecca.

The delivery time came. Jojo didn't want to dress up and was kind of pouty at first. But, as we stopped and saw the smiling faces, we all felt better. This wasn't so bad! 

Sure, the responses were inquisitive.

"Oh, is it a holiday?"

"This is nice! What is it for?"

"Purim?! What's Purim?!"

And, a couple...

"Oh, is it Purim today?!"

But, this is where Jojo got to do what he loves to do... share knowledge. My kids are way better at communicating than I am. Somehow they all got their Dad's short and to-the-point way of answering questions (which is super helpful in situations like these). 

"Purim is about the story of Esther!" Jojo answered. "It teaches us to have the courage to do the right thing when God puts you in the right place. It is about helping people."

"Wow! That is exactly right!" I said as I pushed all the words swarming inside my head back down. The words about Mordecai raising his cousin and why she was an orphan and who Haman's ancestors were and how many times, throughout history, the enemy has tried to annihilate God's people. And, how God's name isn't even in the book of Esther, but HE is there...

 He is working and moving, even when we cannot see Him! Even when we feel like we are all alone among foreigners who couldn't possibly understand all of our weirdness. And to realize that we don't need to be ashamed to be who God created us to be, even with all of our little quirks. Because maybe, he made us who we are and put us among the people we are among, because He wants to use us, right where we are.

Can God use us introverts, living so far away from the city? 

My first thought when we were discussing how we could serve God was to pack sandwiches and go to a nearby town and pass them out to the homeless. But, then I began to wonder if that was what HE wanted us to do. 

He didn't place us in town. He placed us here in the woods.

Maybe He has a use for us country folk too. There are people in the woods who need Jesus. There are many introverts, like us, who will never drive to the city and go to a big church full of people. I don't know what it would look like for us to reach out to them. But, maybe we will learn, in time.

Maybe serving our Father doesn't always look the way we think it will.

For Esther, it took becoming the queen of an ungodly country, married to a short-fused, partying king.

But, in time, and with support from her friends and family, she humbled herself before God and let Him use her, knowing she might not survive the experience. But, she did survive! And, in the process, so did God's people! 

Somehow the idea of letting God use us, whatever that may mean, doesn't sound so scary. Sure, it feels like we are putting our lives in jeopardy when we knock on our neighbor's door, but most of them will recognize us and not shoot! And, if sweet, beautiful Esther had the courage to risk her life to face Haman, surely we can have the courage to say yes to Him as well.

May God bless you and your family as you shine for Him where you are planted!

Please comment with Purim traditions that your family has.