He is six months her elder. She will never accept that as fair. They love each other more than words. Like brother and sister. Their bond is one that people take notice of. They are cousins but they don’t know that means they aren’t siblings. Ask them. They’ll tell you, that’s my best friend. A love that knows no boundaries. Forgiveness comes quickly. Selfless love takes the place of selfish love time and time again, with a little guidance from parents for how-to and why. It’s a beautiful portrait of pure innocence. A love we should all be striving for.
His parents are her aunt & uncle. She loves them, both. She hugs their necks and looks forward to their arrival. Every single time they come through the door. We stop by to visit their house and she’s excited to see them one more time this week. He’s equally excited to see his “sister”. He comes to visit, not as often as he would like, but he is always ready to go back home with his parents after a night at grandma & poppa’s house.
They have grown up living in the same house playing together as siblings for a season of their lives. Their bond has remained despite his moving out into a home with his parents. She has remained with her grandparents whom she knows as and calls mom and dad. She will randomly remind people that she has a momma and a dad. This is our home. With our family. I’m not sure if she is reassuring others or herself. Both is likely the answer.
They know no other love. Love that is not defined by color, race, gender, judgment, or boundaries. Their love and value of each other has nothing to do with the color of their skin or her parents absence.
A lens filtered with the world’s expectations of bias, prejudice, selfishness, and shallow love isn’t clouding the view. The lens they peer through is an unfiltered lens.
It’s a pure love. Their love embodies 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. The love we strive for. Until the world view demands this love isn’t possible. At some abrupt moment in time their age becomes such that a world view of love and identity says the only truth they’ve ever known isn’t real.
I disagree.
Truth is, the world doesn’t know the love of Jesus as the standard.
The love I teach them will ALWAYS be from the love of our Savior. We are created equal. God is not a respector of persons. He called each of us by name in our mother’s womb. He knew our steps and every thought we would ever have before a single day had passed. Yet he loves unconditionally without fail. His thoughts about us are precious and outnumber the grains of sand. We are each made in his image. Perfect. Whole. Wonderful. Masterfully. With purpose and calling. His word says so. We are NOT defined by the limitations of the sin in this world. We are saved by grace. Their identity will only be defined by who they are in Christ. They are a child of the King.
This is the truth in which we will stand. There will be no fear driven into their hearts as the perfect love of Jesus casts out fear. He is their shelter, protection, healer, savior, and example of love they are taught to strive after. We will not wander from teaching his truth as the Bible says when we wander from the truth of his teachings we are unable to fellowship with God. We will not be blindly led into the ditch of despair by the blind.
She said, hey, your belly is brown. I want a brown belly. He said, I’m brown. She said, I want a brown belly. That’s not fair. He said, well, I’m brown. She said, momma, I want a brown belly too. He said, grandma, can we color her belly brown. She said, yea momma, lets color me. They giggled and laughed that they could have the same bellies.
I have fought against the odds for an understanding and appreciation of the truth of Jesus for my family. I’ve stood at the gates of hell feeling the burn of the flames reaching out to singe my skin. As I’ve wandered lost in the world at the mercy of sin crawling through life as a prodigal child. It’s a price I never intended to pay.
You see, when you have fought on the battlefield of a waged war for the soul of your family, you don’t care what the world wants or demands. You are willing to stand for the only truth that sets you free.
Friend, there is no other answer for the souls of our children than the truth of who Jesus Christ is for them. We must stand firm on the foundation of his truth, writing it on the fiber of our hearts, and share it boldly with our children and others even when it means we stand alone. It is the ONLY answer for the lost. This world will NEVER offer the solution to sin that drives oppression, hate, anger, violence, and division.
“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”
Psalms 139:13-16 NLT
https://www.bible.com/116/psa.139.13-16.nlt
“So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
Genesis 1:27 NLT
https://www.bible.com/116/gen.1.27.nlt
“We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.”
2 Corinthians 10:3-4 NLT
https://www.bible.com/116/2co.10.3-4.nlt
“Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.””
John 8:31-32 NLT
https://www.bible.com/116/jhn.8.31-32.nlt
