The school’s contest rules were simple: get a pumpkin. Decorate it like a character from your favorite book. Do it by yourself.
The very day Lindsey brought home the note about the pumpkin decorating contest, she excitedly told me she wanted to enter. She would decorate her pumpkin like a monkey (of course), and the pumpkins would be displayed in the school library, “where everyone can see them.” Lindsey wanted to go buy pumpkin-decorating supplies immediately.
We weren’t able to go right then, but one weekend we did go to Wal-Mart to pick out a pumpkin, some paint, and some ribbon. Lindsey had already designed the pumpkin in her mind, and she intended for it to be painted brown, with brown construction paper ears, arms, legs, and a tail. The eyes, nose, and mouth would be painted on, and the monkey would have a bow on her head.
So we bought brown, black, and white paint and a spool of ribbon that was pink with white polka dots. “Can I start on my pumpkin as soon as we get home?” Lindsey wanted to know.
I said yes, and that’s what she did. She covered that pumpkin with brown paint, leaving space for the eyes, which she painted in later. She added a nose and mouth, taped on the bow, and then taped on arms, legs, and a tail. The whole thing took…well, not nearly as long as I thought it would.
And the results were…well, it was obvious Lindsey had followed the rules and made that pumpkin all by herself.
Yet Lindsey was fiercely proud of it. She loved that pumpkin, and she still does. She carried it carefully into the school and entered it in the contest. And even when it didn’t win (many of the pumpkins had obviously had parental help involved), she proudly brought it home to display.
Lindsey is dreading the day when her pumpkin begins to rot and we have to throw it away. She will grieve over the loss of that pumpkin. Because even though it wasn’t judged to be much by other people’s standards, it was hers, and to her, it was the greatest.
It’s kind of like how God sees us. He knows that not many of us are judged to be beautiful, talented, wealthy, or valuable by the world’s standards. But He loves us not based on what the world says about us, but based on the fact that He made us. We’re His, and He loves us. It’s that simple.
Your value as a person comes not from anything the world says about you or any contest you might win, but from the fact that you belong to God. When He looks at you, He doesn’t look at your outward appearance (beauty, fame, wealth, or talents) but at your heart. Is your heart right toward Him? Does His Holy Spirit live there? Do you love Him? Are you His? Then you are precious to Him.
It doesn’t matter what the world says. It doesn’t make a bit of difference whether or not you win or lose a particular contest. You are precious to God because you belong to Him.
1 Samuel 16:7—But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (NIV)