Every parent has dreams, things that they wish and hope and pray they will pass on to their children. Habits and manners, memories and ideals, morals and stories. Every parent wants their children to have a great childhood, one they will remember with fondness. I wish these same things for you.
But lately, there has been so much controversy in our world: unrest, violence, prejudice, name calling, misunderstanding, disrespect, hurt. When I was a child, I think I was shielded more from these things. We didn't have social media. We didn't have the internet. We didn't think about things like terrorist attacks or transgender celebrities and thought that the Civil Rights movement was something in the past.
Your world is different.
I can't shield you from all of these things; it's impossible. Nor do I want to. At your young ages now, yes, I shield you from the big problems of the world, but sooner than I'd like to admit I won't be able to. They will be front and center - on a screen, from your friends, on a magazine in the checkout line. And we'll talk about them. It will be hard sometimes; uncomfortable, yes. Most of the time I'll be silently praying I'm somehow making sense without telling you too much or too little. But there is one thing I know I can tell you. One thing that if you remember nothing else, remember this:
A person is always a person FIRST. Created in the image of God, loved by that same God who longs for them to know Him Personally.
That girl with the skin a different color than yours. That boy who talks a little funny and walks a little differently than you do. That man who doesn't feel like a man and has lived a life of confusion. That police officer who is trying to do their job well, and the one who has blinders on and isn't doing it so well. The blogger who spews out venom in the name of 'conservativism' or the news anchor giving a 'liberal spin' to a story. The terrorist who is so devoted to a false view of humanity they are willing to kill or be killed for it.
They. Are. People.
Are there maybe sins to be addressed, mistakes to be corrected, honor to be restored and healing to take place? Yes. A million times yes. This does not negate that. Let me say that again - seeing someone as a Person FIRST does not negate any issues that may be there. But what it does is open a door for real walls to be torn down. Not ones we construct in our mind, not an 'us vs. them' mentality, but true, deep down at the core of our being walls. Insecurity. Pride. Failure. Feelings of being completely lost. Abandonment. The types of things that usually only come up in counseling sessions because they're hard and ugly and we don't want to admit that really, we all have them at our core. WE'RE ALL PEOPLE. We all need saving.
And Jesus? He didn't come saying "Fix yourself so I can save you!" "Stop believing lies before I will be your friend!" No. He said to the worst of the worst, "Hey! I'm coming for dinner!" And he knew them as a person. He got into their lives, into their home, into their world. He didn't sugarcoat any sin issues, but his focus wasn't first on the sin. His focus was first on the person, and in so doing the person saw the person of Christ, and realized what they were not, but what they could be in Him. Because it is 'the kindness of God that leads us to repentance'.
When we focus first on what is wrong with someone, we focus on the wrong thing. I can tell you full well if a random person comes up to me and tells me that how I'm mothering you boys is wrong, I'm going to write that person off immediately. Who are they to know? If a friend - someone who KNOWS me, the person me - tells me I'm doing something wrong, I listen. We have trust, a relationship, one where honesty is encouraged and hard things are done. And maybe then I change what's going wrong. But only then.
So my prayer for you boys, is that you'll ignore the shouts of social media. You'll ignore the banter of Blue vs. Red or black vs. white. Rather, you'll walk down the street, drive downtown, stop the man asking for change on the side of the road, and invite them to dinner. Spend time with their families. Let them see the love of Christ shining through you and know that something is not only different - but that something is GOOD.
And I think everyone longs to see a little bit of that good these days.
'I love you and love you, and love you and love you,'
Mommy
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