{"id":640,"date":"2016-07-18T22:35:34","date_gmt":"2016-07-18T22:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simplymeandjeans.wordpress.com\/?p=640"},"modified":"2016-07-18T22:35:34","modified_gmt":"2016-07-18T22:35:34","slug":"children-of-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/?p=640","title":{"rendered":"“Children” of Mine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1509246_10203513459823914_4072745267972785672_n\"<\/a>It\u2019s baby season in our town.\u00a0 They\u2019re popping out all over the place. Beautiful and precious babies that are poised to learn all kinds of things from this world and the people around them.That\u2019s both terrifying and promising in the world we have created for ourselves.<\/p>\n

I remember sitting on the edge of my bed watching news reports about the Kuwaiti oil fires, holding my brand new baby girl and crying massive hormonal tears over the state of the world I had brought her into.\u00a0 It was a mess.<\/p>\n

It still is.<\/p>\n

While I was pregnant, I also remember hearing words that made me furious but that I also understood. \u201cI could never bring a child into this world.\u201d (Never say that to a woman who \u00a0is pregnant, by the way.) I wonder if people have thought that same thing throughout history.\u00a0 I mean, we\u2019ve created a world that can easily cause us to be hopeless, fearful and jaded but history proves that many had reason to feel the same way throughout the centuries. To be honest, mankind has always had an amazing ability to be horrible, evil and hateful to one another.\u00a0 All of us.<\/p>\n

BUT\u2026<\/p>\n

I\u2019m older now and, although I fight suffocating fear (at times) over the state of our world, I have seen and realized something powerful and beautiful. Something that reflects beautifully on my\u00a0loving, forgiving, gracious, redeeming and restorative God. The beauty is that, sometimes, these babies grow up to be amazing men and women that can change the world for good.<\/p>\n

My girls for instance.\u00a0 I am so in love with each of them and I am proud of how they each are learning to love people – fiercely.\u00a0 They fail sometimes, but they\u2019re resilient and determined to get better at it and, although stubbornness runs in our blood to a fault, they\u2019re each willing to humble themselves in order to love more like Jesus does.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to think they saw me screw up and apologize enough to realize it isn\u2019t awful to fail.\u00a0 What\u2019s awful is to fail and not recognize or admit that fact.<\/p>\n

But, lest you write me off as an annoying mom that thinks too highly of my children, I\u2019d like to tell you about the other \u201cchildren\u201d in my life.\u00a0 The babies that I watched grow up alongside my babies.\u00a0 The friends that blessed our home with laughter and joy and love over the last 27 years.\u00a0 The teens that have grown into some of the most amazing adults I\u2019ve ever known.<\/p>\n

When I start to worry that our world is full of selfish, uneducated, disrespectful, lazy young people, God is quick to correct me and bring them to mind.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll start with the handsome Godly young man who was born 2 days before my youngest and has been a treasured friend of hers\u2019 since that day.\u00a0 He\u2019s also my best friends baby and I cried at his graduation as if he were my own. Because I have girls, most of the friends that came into our lives were girls but this young man is worth mentioning first and foremost.\u00a0 He is smart and kind and such a hard worker.\u00a0 He treats women with respect and is strong and funny. He gives me hope because a generation of men like him could turn everything around.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s the group of girls that accepted my oldest when she changed schools and knew no one.\u00a0 They\u2019ve grown into beautiful, intelligent loving women.\u00a0 Two are nurses and give of themselves daily.\u00a0 One is on the other side of our huge state but can melt my heart with a text that says, \u201cHappy Birthday mama.\u201d And they are loving, level-headed and Godly women.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s the golden-haired beauty that has been my middle\u2019s best friend their whole lives.\u00a0 (She also happens to be my niece.) She\u2019s resilient, loyal, super smart, driven and totally focused.\u00a0 She brings light and love wherever she goes.<\/p>\n

There are the sisters of the before mentioned young man.\u00a0 The eldest is sensitive, humble and selfless like no one I know.\u00a0 She and I are kindred spirits.\u00a0 She devours books, sends people hand written cards, prays for her patients as a nurse, loves with abandon and glows with a beauty you would be blessed to see.\u00a0 The youngest is one of the best friends my youngest has ever had.\u00a0 They are more like sisters.\u00a0 They fight and argue sometimes but they love each other and have one another\u2019s backs even when they disagree.\u00a0 She\u2019s a force.\u00a0 Seriously.\u00a0 And the world will not ignore her.<\/p>\n

There are many more that I could mention. Many faces that I can picture rummaging through my frig, watching movies on my couch,\u00a0 keeping Steve and I up late at night, taking pictures before dances, celebrating with or hugging us after a soccer game, getting sick at a sleep over, \u00a0listening to Steve affirm and love them when they didn\u2019t have a man in their life to tell them they should be treated like a Princess (he really loved them all like they were his own), having conversations about dating, school, life, God\u2026\u2026there are so many people and so many memories that I treasure. This is one of the blessings of being a parent that you aren\u2019t told about…and it\u2019s precious.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s Zoe.\u00a0 Sweet Zoe.\u00a0 Her family came to our church when she was just a little girl.\u00a0 Her mom has been one of the most influential women in my life when it comes to my faith and becoming a woman of God.\u00a0 Zoe has seen me at my worst, at my best and everywhere in between.\u00a0 She\u2019s seen me yell, she\u2019s seen me jump to conclusions, she\u2019s seen me love and worship Jesus, She\u2019s seen me fail and (I hope) she\u2019s seen me apologize and try to learn from my mistakes.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen her grow through difficult times.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen her run hard after truth so that she could stand on her own two feet. I\u2019ve seen her love and befriend two of my girls at different stages of life.\u00a0 She\u2019s been my youngest daughter\u2019s best friend and roommate for 2 years and she has been a stabilizing force for her when life has been less than stable.<\/p>\n

Zoe\u2019s getting married next week. She found an amazing young man that proves there are other\u2019s out their like Will (the one I mentioned earlier). \u00a0Steve is honored to do the wedding and \u00a0I\u2019m positive I will cry. \u00a0This isn\u2019t the first marriage for one of these \u201cchildren\u201d of mine.\u00a0 \u00a0These kiddos that I\u2019ve watched grow up in our church and in our home have become adults. I\u2019m in awe of them and I\u2019m so glad their parents chose to bring them into this world.\u00a0 Not only have they improved my life, I have no doubt that God will use them wherever they go.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still scary\u2026this world I mean.\u00a0 We have too much hate to go around and not enough love.\u00a0 But, I find hope in the flow of God\u2019s love in and through the lives of His people.\u00a0 People like these \u201cchildren\u201d of mine.<\/p>\n

Did I mention there\u2019s a precious baby growing in my first baby\u2019s tummy?\u00a0\u00a0 That could be why I started down this train of thought, I guess.\u00a0 I think about that baby a lot lately as well as all the ones being born around me and I realize one fundamental truth\u2026life is uncertain.\u00a0 It always has been. But then I realize another fundamental truth\u2026every baby brings hope into this world.<\/p>\n

What a difference it would make if they were all loved.\u00a0 If they were all taught to love.\u00a0 If they were introduced to the author of love.\u00a0 A generation raised to become an army of light. Not of prejudice, hate, pride, greed or judgement.<\/p>\n

Because\u00a0I remember so many \u00a0babies that I\u2019ve seen grow into beautiful human beings, I am able to find hope again.\u00a0Hope that each\u00a0child\u00a0can make a difference. Each child is important. \u00a0Each child can be the hands and feet of God and help lift someone out of the darkness.<\/p>\n

And then I pray that we all would remember that of ourselves. And chose to\u00a0live accordingly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s baby season in our town.\u00a0 They\u2019re popping out all over the place. Beautiful and precious babies that are poised to learn all kinds of things from this world and the people around them.That\u2019s both terrifying and promising in the world we have created for ourselves. I remember sitting on the edge of my bed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[29,78,189,223,248,274,276,292,341,465,570,573,634],"class_list":["post-640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-just-some-thoughts","tag-babies","tag-children","tag-family","tag-future","tag-grow","tag-hope","tag-hopelessness","tag-influence","tag-love","tag-responsibility","tag-teach","tag-teens","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}