Hold Your Head Up!

We were on holidays in Toronto recently and decided to go to the CN Tower as most tourists do. We spent an hour and a half in a long line-up and finally made our way to the top of the tower. The view was breathtaking, I never got tired of looking at the harbour or the multitudes of buildings that grace the Toronto skyline.

We were pretty exhausted by the time we left and I suppose in our tiredness we took a wrong turn and landed up walking out onto the street instead of into the sky walk that would lead us to the parkade where our rental car was. Wes asked if I wanted to go back and try to figure out where we went wrong, but I was happy to have some fresh air and suggested that we walk the block and a half around to the parkade.

We walked down the street and I was fascinated with watching all the people moving along with us or walking toward us. It seemed as though the stream of people never slowed.

As we continued walking we came around a huge cement pillar in front of a building and there sat a woman in a wheelchair. She caught my eye right away because she was dressed very sophisticated, her hair done quite professionally, but her face. I couldn't look away. Though her dress and hair were immaculate, her face was not...because it was full of ice cream.

I'm sure my jaw dropped at the sight. Like a small child she had ice cream smeared all around her mouth and cheeks and even on her nose. I looked at the crowd that was standing around her wheelchair and they were dressed the same as her and then my eyes caught the man feeding her the ice cream. He was standing there visiting with his friends, not even looking at her and holding the ice cream cone to her face. In fact, no one looked in her direction.  She obviously had very little control over her head and neck since her head kept bobbing into the cone. He continued visiting with his friends and no one noticed that she was shaking her head to indicate she didn't want anymore. He simply kept holding it to her face and making a humiliating mess.

I walked away holding Wes' hand just a bit tighter, fighting the tears of anger and outrage at how this woman was being overlooked by her friends and this man.

Now, fast forward a few days and we decided to go on the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls. When the ride was over we were all walking back to the entrance and I noticed a tall boy and his mom walking in front of us. He was taller than her so I knew he was not a young child, yet, when we walked past the booth where the young attendant had taken our tickets, he waved like a small child at her and yelled, 'bye!' I didn't think too much about it as we continued walking to the elevator that would take us back up to ground level.

This young man and his mom were just to my left in the elevator and I watched as his mom immediately turned to face him. It was then that I noticed that he was quite handicapped as well as visually impaired. She spoke only to him.  She put her face close to his and gently said, "Stand tall"

She didn't say, "Stand up straight!" or "Pull your shoulders back!" or "Don't slouch!"

It was just a quiet, "Stand tall"

His eyes squinted shut and she kept her face close to his as I watched her rise up and straighten her own posture. Within a few seconds his shoulders pulled back and he raised his body up tall. I thought she was done...apparently not.

She leaned in even closer until she was nearly nose to nose and said just as quietly and gently, "Hold your head up!"

As she said it she began to slowly raise her chin, never once losing eye contact with him. Again he squinted at her and slowly his chin began to rise. When we walked off the elevator they stopped just outside and moved off to the side.  My last glimpse of them was of him standing beside her, tall and proud. I felt like running over there and giving her a huge hug, but she never looked anywhere but at her child, her only concern was for her son, her care and attention was for him alone. She never took her eyes off of him and he was standing tall and holding his head up proudly beside her.

How different these two situations were. Like night and day. One could not be bothered and the other never stopped caring.

Jesus is like the mother in the elevator.

One day when we stand before God, He will stand right there with us and I can imagine that Him saying, "Stand tall! I am acknowledging you before My Father! Stand tall!" He will remind us that we are His, by adoption, His stripes are for us, He has bought us with His blood and for that very reason alone we should stand tall and proud. And as our shoulders rise I imagine Him looking into our eyes, His eyes filled with more love than we can ever imagine or have ever experienced and saying quietly, "Hold your head up! Your sins are forgiven! You have nothing to be ashamed of. Hold your head up!" 

And we will.

Because when we ask for forgiveness of our sins, He forgives. 

"As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."
Psalm 103:12

Hold your head up!  You are forgiven!