Liturgies for Littles

When I Feel Left Out

Belonging when I'm the one still standing there

Read by Beautiful Eulogy. Audio arrives November 19, 2026.

The Word ESV

For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in.
Psalm 27:10

"Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
Isaiah 49:15-16

So he told them this parable:
"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?
And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.'
Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
Luke 15:3-7

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Ephesians 1:4-5

Devotional

They picked teams and the game started and you were still standing there.

Or maybe it was a party you found out about on Monday, when everybody was talking about it and you were the only one who didn't know.

That drop in your stomach is real. Getting left out hurts in a place that's hard to describe.

And here's why. You were built to belong. God made people to be in families and friendships and groups. So when you get left out, something you were actually made for is missing. It's not a small thing, and you don't have to pretend it is.

But there's something God says about you that happened way before recess today.

"He chose us in him before the foundation of the world... he predestined us for adoption."

Before the foundation of the world. That means before there was an earth. Before there were stars. Before there was a Monday to find out about parties on.

Back then, God picked you.

And he didn't pick you for a team. He picked you to be his kid. That's what adoption means. Somebody chooses you on purpose and takes you home and you're theirs from then on.

Nobody at recess can undo that.

Now listen to what God says about how well he knows you. He asks a question first: can a mom forget the baby she's holding?

You'd say no. That's about the closest two people ever get.

And God says even that might happen someday. "Yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands."

Engraved. Not written in pen. Carved in. The kind of thing that doesn't wash off.

David knew what left out feels like. He wrote, "For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in." Even if the two people who are supposed to be there aren't. God still takes you in.

And Jesus told a story about this.

A shepherd has a hundred sheep and loses one. Just one. And he leaves the ninety-nine and goes out looking.

He doesn't send somebody else. He goes.

He doesn't quit when it gets dark. He looks until he finds it.

And when he finds it, he doesn't yell at it for wandering off. He picks it up, puts it on his shoulders, and carries it home. Then he throws a party.

That shepherd is Jesus. He left heaven and came looking for people who were lost. He died on a cross and came back alive so that nobody he's looking for stays lost.

And here's the part I want you to hold onto: he didn't wait for you to be worth choosing. He chose you while you were still wandering around.

So on the days when it feels like everybody has a group except you, remember this.

The God who made the whole universe knows your name.

He carved it into his hands.

And he came all this way to carry you home.