dear Esther

I had not really thought before that Esther and Mordecai were the Jews who had not gone back to Jerusalem, even though it seems they could have. They stayed in Babylon. Interesting that Esther could hide the fact that she was Jewish. It seems they were not openly distinguishable from the surrounding culture. . . a lot like us!

We too can become so steeped in our culture that we are almost indistinguishable from the world. We too can lose our sense of identity and forget who we are. . . one of God's purposes in this journey is to help us recapture both our identity and identification as His children -- not so we can be obnoxious but so we can be influential.

'nuff said!