“I am not a good Wemmick.” This is a line from a fantastic children’s book titled You are Special by Max Lucado. As a father of two children under the age of 10, I I have read it a number of times, but its message is applicable to all ages. The book is based on a community of wooden people who were carved by a woodworker named Eli. They would judge each other by giving stars to the “best” Wemmicks, the name of the wooden people, and dots to the worst Wemmicks. Sadly, the main character of the book, Punchinello, was covered in dots, leading him to declare the line above about himself.

A little later in the book, Punchinello cries, “But he won’t want to see me!”. This follows an interaction with Lucia, a Wemmick to whom stars and dots would not stick. Punchinello had just asked Lucia how she had avoided the stickers. Lucia said she would just go see Eli each day and told Punchinello to give it a try. However, Punchinello did not believe Eli, his maker, would want to see such a dot-covered wooden person. He believed Eli saw him as worthless, just like everyone else.

Over the past few posts, we have been exploring what it means to thrive. We have talked about the role our internal narrative plays in our ability to thrive. Then we discussed the impact the lens through which we see our Creator has on what we believe about ourselves (click here to read the post). Specifically, does the lens we are using lead us to believe we were created by a cruel and uncaring god to live a meaningless life, or a good and caring God to live a life of meaning and purpose? Depending on the answer, moving toward a life of thriving may require a changing of the lens through which we see God. This is a critical step, but not the end of the journey.

With a clearer picture of God, we are ready to ask the next question: What is God’s view of me?

Getting back to our children’s book, this is the question with which Punchinello was wrestling. It is also a question with which many of us do the same. Lucia wisely told Punchinello he needed to meet Eli, his creator, before he could answer that question. His view of Eli would greatly influence how he believed Eli saw him, just like our view of our Creator shapes how we believe He sees us. With the right lens there, we can turn to another lens: the one that is focused on us.

Many times, we allow our experiences and the other voices in our lives to define how we believe God sees us. Like Punchinello, we see ourselves as designed to be covered in dots and stars. We have a tendency to believe God uses the same measure of worth as the world around us. Nothing could be further from the truth.

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:13-14)

Those words were written by David, one of the Old Testament king’s of Israel, who was described as, “a man after God’s own heart”. If David was a Wemmick, he would have had some stars, but he would have also had a lot of dots. David did not live a perfect life. If you are not sure, read his story for yourself. Despite his many imperfections, he knew that God’s view of him was not ultimately defined by what he did or what others believed about him. Instead, God’s view of him was defined by who He had created him to be. Was the brokenness true of him? Yes, but it was not the truest thing about him from God’s perspective. What was most true was the “fearfully and wonderfully” made person God had created David to be. In the end God still saw David this way.

Guess what? The same is true for you. Is your brokenness a part of you? Yes. Does it have to define you? No. God uses a different lens that sees the person of meaning and purpose you were created despite your brokenness. To say it another way, God hasn’t given up on you. He still believes you can become the person he “fearfully and wonderfully made”. Do you believe that?

Punchinello wasn’t so sure at first. You will have to read the book to get the full story, but he does go to visit Eli. During their interaction Eli, Punchinello’s creator, utters these critical words: “All the matters is what I think. And I think you are pretty special.”

Punchinello still has a lot of questions after his interaction with Eli, but it was clear how his creator viewed him: he was special. What is God’s view of you? You are special. You were created on purpose and for a purpose. This is God’s view of you.

Now, how do you begin to internalize that? In other words, how do you begin to see yourself the way God sees you? That will be the topic next time.

James Belt

Click here​ for more information on my book Hope Realized and resources to help you bring hope to others!