I’ve been dealing with a problem in my life lately.  I am pretty consistent about getting the mail from my mailbox everyday, but my problem is that it takes me forever to open it.  I usually walk into the door, put the mail in my kitchen… and the mail turns into a pile of mail that sits there for days.  I have many other things I’d rather do than sit and sift through the important and unimportant things that find their way to my mailbox.

What’s the problem? What’s the significance of that?  Well, I didn’t really see one myself until I remembered this quote:

I became a big fan of the United States Postal Service.  Every day I would run down the driveway to get the mail as soon as the mailman delivered it.  I would separate the piles for each household member and would inform them what was in their pile before they even got to it.  It irritated me how indifferent they were to their mail!  The worst was when I would see Jackie throw some into the trash without even opening it – I opened everything addressed to me, even “junk” mail.  When they asked me, after several months, why I was obsessed with the mail, I explained that for eighteen years of my life I had never gotten a personal piece of mail.  An envelope, addressed to me, regardless of content, was an affirmation that I mattered to someone.

         – Alex Krutov in “Infinitely More” (pg 175-176)

Alex was raised in the harsh Russian orphanage system.  He lived his life never knowing if he mattered to anyone.  Once he was given the opportunity to study and live in the US, he found meaning to his life in all different places, including in the mailbox.

It was as if every time he received a piece of mail, it was telling him all kinds of things: Someone knows my name.  Someone knows that I am alive.  Someone knows that I have a home where I can be found. Someone took the time to send something to me.  Someone has something they want to share with me.  Someone has message they want me to hear.  Someone believes that I matter. 

So now, because of Alex’s story, I am reminded that my pile of mail shows me that I matter to someone.  They have a message that they specifically want to share with me.  They had a purpose in sending this to me.

There are so many orphans around the world who wish they mattered to someone.  Even if it is something small, that could affirm that someone knows their name, cares about where they are, is interested in their story, and believes that their lives have meaning. 

Even in the world around us, there are people yearning to believe that they matter.  Maybe even you who are reading this right now.  Your life has meaning, you matter.  God sees, God cares, and God knows. 

 

What is the price of 5 sparrows—2 copper coins?
Yet God does not forget a single one of them.
And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.
So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God
than a whole flock of sparrows.
Luke 12: 6-7 (NLT)