It matters

This morning I was making Brady's lunch. I got out a small water bottle...the only one that fits in his lunch box...and started to put some Gatorade in it as a treat for him. I showed it to him because I wanted to make sure he liked the kind I was giving him. His eyes lit up for a second and he said, "yeah!" Then he kinda hung around for a minute, and finally, tentatively, said, "Well, Mom, how come some kids make fun of me when I have that water bottle?" I stopped what I was doing, looked at him, and asked him what they say. He replied, "Well, they say its a baby bottle." I told him I was sorry and he said, "Yeah, it makes me sad."

Needless to say I quickly found something else to put the Gatorade in and told him I won't ever give him that water bottle for school again. My heart was breaking. Our conversation continued in the car when I told him that sometimes people just make fun of other people for no good reason. He responded with, "Yeah. Some kids do, but I don't." I reiterated that we always need to say kind words to people even when they don't. His voice was still sad, but he agreed with me. At the bus stop I gave him an extra hug, looked him in the eye, and made him promise that he would always tell me if people made fun of him or made him sad. And I sent him on his way.

I'm sure some of you are saying, "Wow, what is the big deal?" Well, let me give you some context. My heart is heavy and nearly breaking for a local family whose daughter took her own life last week. I attended the funeral yesterday. By all appearances she was a beautiful, smart, funny, well-liked girl. Somehow, somewhere along the path of life she took a turn that ended her life in a tragic way. I'm sure her parents never dreamed they would be attending her funeral yesterday when they gazed into the eyes of a little 5-year-old years ago. And so, as I came home last night I held my kids a little longer, hugged them a little tighter, listened to them a little longer, prayed for them a little more.

This past Sunday was "Sanctity of Life" Sunday. As we celebrated life, and then moved to support this family last night, I was reminded of how precious EACH life is...no matter how small, whether in the womb or old and frail, whether handicapped or healthy, whether weak or strong, whether 5-years-old or 14 or 45 or 80. What we say matters. What we do matters. Each person we see, speak to, pray for, ignore, brush off, laugh at, we impact. The truth is that God gives value to life. He gives us worth, and its by His standards and not ours. He loves each of us unconditionally. He forgives each of us our debt if we simply ask. There is NO sin that He didn't die for. I saw a multitude of hurting people last night, young and old alike. And in the midst of immense grief, I saw a mom raise her hands in worship. The world needs Jesus. We need Jesus. Jesus Saves. I hope this encourages all of us to reach out to someone. Love, Kindness, Respect.