When We Don't Feel Welcome

Waking up to another gloomy day, I brew some coffee and pop into my mouth my daily dose of Vitamin D3.  The twins belt out their Hungry Cry which sounds like two freight trains crossing paths on the imaginary railroads around me. They await for me to change them and give them cereal. My three year old is pounding the table screaming for breakfast with a weary look on her face. I am attempting to awake the other three to start their day but I am met with groans and sheets pulled over tired faces. I am feeling unwelcome.

I let out a huge sigh and continue getting everyone ready for the day. We load up in the van and get ready to drive out to the store to get groceries for the new home. Upon making several false turns along the way, we finally make it. We enter the store and begin our shopping. As we pass by the strangers and unfamiliarity of this place, we are met with comments about the large size of our family, some with curiosity and some with scoff.  We press on through the store and get back home.

Then, I pause. My self-talk sinks in and I start thinking about the newness of this place: a  new town, new neighbors, and new friends. The exciting reality of moving to a new place has worn off a bit and I start to feel a bit unsettled over the lack of welcome I feel in my new surroundings. My fears get the best of me as I realize I don't know anyone. Every bit of familiarity we had at our previous location is gone. I don't quite feel welcome yet.

When we don't feel welcome in our current situation, whether it be at a family gathering, a new town, or a simple gathering, we need to remember we are not alone. We are NEVER alone. God is there to hear our every cry, our every concern, and our every fear. He will never leave us nor forsake us. We can hang on to that promise.

Do you remember the story of Ruth from the Bible? Her husband dies as does her father-in-law. She could have said, "See ya!" and stayed in her hometown with her original family. But she doesn't. This woman decides that she would go brave and travel to her mother-in-law, Naomi's land. Naomi practically begged her to stay there and Ruth responds with one of my favorite words from the Bible.

Ruth 1:16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you, where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God."

From there, we know that Ruth follows Naomi to Bethlehem and ends up meeting Boaz. Both she and Boaz end up marrying. He redeems Ruth from a life of poverty and being a widow. Even more, from that lineage comes Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Sometimes we will go through life and the people and places we are in will hurt us. We feel like the oddball at the annual Thanksgiving feast. We feel like we have nothing in common with the couples at our husband's work party. We feel completely lost in a new place. We will not always feel welcome. But we CAN be brave like Ruth in whatever place we are in. We have to just trust God with our surroundings and know that He will always welcome us into His arms.

Did Ruth feel 100% welcome with her mother-in-law or even her new land? If you recall,  Naomi urged her to stay behind. I am sure that when Ruth arrived in Bethlehem, she felt the stares and the comments about her being a widow. Talk about tiresome and uncomfortable. Even more, who knew what the people had to say when she and Boaz were checking each other out. I imagine the naysayers saying something like this:

"Did you see that Ruth just going out to the field gleaning wheat like it was her own?" says  Woman A.

"Seriously! And then she was over there smiling and glancing at Boaz. She has hardly been a widow for that long. The nerve!!!" says Woman B.

"If I were her, I would have stayed where she was at and lived with her family. What business does she really have here?" says  Woman C.  And on and on it goes.

We've all felt it at one time or another. We've all wanted to be liked in our surroundings only to be met with the opposite. But not everyone gets the red carpet with flower petal treatment.  Some people are going to find us strange. Some people won't see our personality as something great at all. Unfortunately, we will all have moments of being unwelcome.

 

We may not feel welcome among our neighbors at times. We may not feel welcome among certain relatives. We may not feel welcome at a social event that we are attending. But what matters most is that we never need to worry about being welcomed by God.

Happy New Year, Friends!