This past weekend, Brady kept repeating a line from the movie Horton Hears a Who over and over again: “We are here. We are here. We are here.  We are here.”

This line comes from the scene when all the people in Whoville and screaming, yelling, and banging on anything to let Horton’s friends know that they exist.  Their screaming is in an attempt to save their world, which is on a speck on a flower, from being thrown into a pot of boiling water by the Kangaroo.  (You can go search for Horton Hears a Who: We are Here Scene to watch on the internet!)

As  Brady said this line over and over and over again this weekend, the quote began to take on a new meaning for me.  It got me thinking about how often people desperately try to let people know they exist- desperately try to let people know, “We are Here.  Pay attention to us.  We exist.”

I can think of so many examples in my life from the homeless person I come across on the street, to the people in poor countries who are so in need of help, to the person in our life who is hurting and desperately trying to get someone’s attention, to the person who is so often looked over because they are not making enough “racket”.  

It makes me stop and think about those three words “We are Here” in a completely different way.  It also makes me thankful that I know that there is always one person that will always acknowledge that I am here and that we are here.  We are God’s beloved children. 

Who in our lives is saying, “we are here”, but we are not paying attention too?
Where do we need to wake-up to the presence of someone in our lives? 
Do we need to let the idea that we are God’s beloved deepen in us? 

Becky Eldredge

Becky is an Ignatian-trained spiritual director, retreat facilitator, and writer. She is the author of the Busy Lives and Restless Souls (March 2017, Loyola Press) and The Inner Chapel (April 2020, Loyola Press). She helps others create space to connect faith and everyday life through facilitating retreats and days of reflection, through writing, and through spiritual direction. With nearly twenty years of ministry experience within the Catholic Church, Becky seeks to help others discover God at work in the every day moments of people’s lives by utilizing St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises and the many gifts that our Catholic faith and Ignatian Spirituality provide.