What I Choose

I assure you you won't have to hold your breath to read this. There is so much hate on social media right now that it absolutely breaks my heart and disgusts me with every fiber of my being. I have tried to avoid making any statements about things, but most of you know me and know keeping my mouth shut is darn near impossible, so here I go....

I did not choose to be born white. I did not choose to be born with blue eyes. I did not choose to be born to Neal and Mary Alice Douglas (I'm just one of the luckiest kids ever born to have them as my parents). I did not choose to be born in the richest, most beautiful country in the world. I did not choose to be 5'6". We won't talk about my choice in my weight or hair color at this point because this is my blog and I DO choose that much, okay?

We make choices every day but there are some we don't make. We are all clearly created differently. I'm glad. When kids come in to my office and talk about differences of any kind, I liken it to a box of crayons. How boring would it be if we wanted to color a picture and with excitement, opened a box of crayons and they were all the same? We were all created differently, on purpose, by Him, with love.

I choose what clothes I wear on a day to day basis, how to wear my hair, and what to eat. I really need to talk to myself about making better choices there, but how blessed are we that most of us live where we CAN choose these things? I choose to talk to my kids about things that are uncomfortable because I would rather us have an open forum than for them to be raised in 'ignorant' bliss, that isn't bliss at all. I choose what comes out of my mouth. Wait. I take that back. I USUALLY choose what comes out of my mouth. Sometimes I do have filter malfunctions and have to apologize or restate some things.

I have made some poor choices in my life. Really poor. I have hurt people with my actions and my words. But this is what I choose now. I choose to love people. I choose not to be a doormat to anyone, but I choose to REALLY love people. ALL people. I have learned that people who have been through hurt, hate, loss of spouses, children, freedom, and hope are the very people who have learned to fight for love and fight hard. I have learned that when we all step down off of our high horse (and I used to be on mine, too) we realize we're all just bumbling around down here trying figure this all out, the best we can, with the people we love.

When my son was little he was trying to describe a child in his class. He couldn't quiet figure out how to explain him to me. He finally said that his skin was kind of dark. Brown. I realized my kids really hadn't distinguished 'black' and 'white'. I was glad. I don't want them seeing people as a color, a race, straight, or homosexual. I want my children to see people as human. Human beings with hearts. I want them to love and love big.

I don't identify with liberal or conservative. I don't like political talk. What I do like is when we stop talking hate and start talking love. Positive. I realize there are bad things and bad people. But isn't it time we take ourselves out of the judgment seat? I'm not sure why we feel if we disagree on things it means we have to hate and to hurt. I choose not to engage in the craziness of what I'm seeing on social media. I choose to love my friends, all of them. If I read correctly, Christ died for us. All of us. He chose me. I choose to love and be grateful. It's easier and helps my blood pressure stay down. And now I choose to go get more coffee.

Choosing Love,
Becky
June 27, 2015