how do you know if you're okay?

Have you ever had these arguments with your child?

I’m ugly.  No, you’re beautiful.  Your eyes.  Your hair.  Your smile.

I’m dumb.  All A’s and one B?  That’s not dumb. 

John the Baptist had a moment like this.  He lived his whole life to proclaim Jesus is the Christ.  Now from prison he sends people to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”  Have I been wrong about who you are?  Has my whole life been a waste?  Am I stupid?   

Jesus sends a reply to John and then turns to the crowd around him and says, “Í tell you the truth:  Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”  (Matthew 11:3,11) 

Prison is the lowest place a person can go.  Stripped of dignity.  Not a place to feel confident.  The voice that proclaimed the coming of Christ loudly in the wilderness is now hunkered down in the corner.

Like John, I find myself there a lot.  Wondering,  Am I okay?   

Feeling the least.  The very least of anyone.  Completely inadequate and unsure of who I am and what I’m doing with my life. 

Did Jesus just say what I think he said about me?