You’re Not Forgotten
One year ago today, I wrote this in my journal during a quiet moment of prayer. I wasn’t trying to make sense of everything — just noticing where God met me in my grief and reminded me that I wasn’t forgotten.
Rereading it now, I realize the hope it gave me then is the same hope many of us need this season. So I’m sharing it here, just as it was written, in case it helps someone else who feels a little like a misfit today.
Tuesday, December 24, 2024 – 10:42 AM
The Island of Misfit Toys…
I may be a little slow at times — haha, I know I can be. I had never seen God’s love for us in the cartoon Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer before.
This morning, while praying, I found myself thanking God that we are not just toys He plays with until we’re broken and then casts aside. As I thought about that, the Island of Misfit Toys came to mind.
Elaine (Lainee) loved the old claymation Christmas specials, so I must have seen Rudolph at least 42 times during the 42 years we were married — probably more. But I always thought it was just a sweet detail that after Rudolph returned to Santa, he didn’t forget to mention his new friends on the island. And then Santa made a special trip there to pick up those misfit toys and deliver them to children who needed them and would love them.
I’m not sure how I missed the deeper story for so long.
I see now that I am a misfit toy — and maybe we all are at times. Left to my own self-pity, I would choose to live on my island. But then Jesus came to my island and found me. And when He returned to His Father, He did not forget to mention me.
So the Father came to my island and picked me up — misfit and all — and He is delivering me to bring joy to others through the comfort He has given me in His great love. And in turn, they will bring comfort and love to others.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
2 Corinthians 1:3–4 (NIV)
I’ll save the whole red-nose thing — the “light piercing the darkness so Santa could deliver his gifts to the world” parallel — for another time.
If you feel like a misfit… you’re not forgotten.
The God of all comfort still comes to the islands we hide on. And the comfort He gives us is never meant to stop with us — it’s meant to be carried forward, one act of love at a time.