What I Should Have Said

It hit me early, early this morning.  I was driving home, smiling as I approached one of the small towns between here and The City.  Glowing snowflakes adorn each light post from one end of town to the other, and it is especially beautiful at midnight with real snow gently falling and the world silent and dark all around.

But it was there, in that moment, that words spoken earlier echoed in my head.  Eyes desperate for hope had looked into mine, and the words "I just struggle to believe I'm worth standing up for at all" stung my heart.  I answered honestly and quickly, saying "yes you are.  I would stand up for you."  Which is well and good, but woefully inadequate.

What should I have said?

I should  have said...

You are precious.  You are the only you that there has ever been and that ever will be.  The Creator of all that is, created you specifically and exactly for His purpose.  And He loved you so much, that He allowed His SON to come here to this earth as a baby.  A tiny, helpless child, utterly dependent on two flawed human beings.  God Himself, did that.

But it doesn't stop there.

He watched His Son grow and mature, becoming the greatest man the world has ever known.  He was, after all, fully man, but also fully God.  And do you know what this flawless, sinless God-man did for you?  He literally allowed his flesh to be ripped to shreds, giant spikes driven through His hands and feet, and a crown of thorns driven into his head before he died.  And He endured that death so that he could literally go to hell and stand up to the Devil himself on your behalf. 

And if the King of Kings, the One we are celebrating right now, did that for you... then any estimation I may have of your worth is trivial and certainly falls short.

That is what I should have said.