Caroline enjoys books. This is good news, especially since
mommy and daddy love books too.
Her favorite book this month is titled, “Things You Can Be: When You Belive In Yourself,” by Benecia
Aronwald & illustrated by Jill Weber. Here’s the kicker. This book was
given to Lauren by one of her best friends, Lauren “Lovin” VanderMeer. Lovin
must have given this to my wife when Lauren started her medical school journey.
It’s fantastic for adults and kiddos on many levels. Here’s what I love about this book.
1. It’s both fun and deep! I can see why Caroline is
fascinated with the little gem with all of its bright pictures. Of course, it
rhymes, which I’ve found to be the magic formula behind children’s books (i.e. ALL Dr.
Seuess books!)
2. It’s really spiritually sound while not having any
biblical, religious or “Jesusy” language.
There might be some feisty Christians who have
an issue with its primary message because it talks about believing in oneself and
chasing one’s dreams. The “self” seems to be the primary character in this
book. Here’s the rub. There are many Christians who spend quite a bit of time
revolted by oneself and others along with slaying the obvious consumer
mentality of the narcissist western world while shouting, “It’s not about you
because YOU suck!!!,” seemingly loving to revel in the doctrine of original sin
and one’s total depravity. Okay, there is a thread of truth in this argument. Still, I’d like to express my thoughts on why an over exaggeration and extreme posture
on this depravity doctrine and the sheer sinfulness of humanity can actually get in
the way of the gospel message (gospel = good news!). To preface, I’m not discounting sin. Everyone
would agree, Christians and nonChristians alike, that humanity is prone to wickedness, evil and filth on any given
day. Just watch the news, right?
Still, the fullness of the gospel message
is about redemption and getting back to the focal point of the biblical
narrative vision, which starts with the words, “very good," referring to US, human beings! We neglect to start with
the true source of goodness, our Creator, who fashioned us in his image, making
us His beloved sons and daughter. We were actually created to do good works as
raging love-aholics who bring peace and joy to this world.
Yet, what many people hear is, “YOU ARE
AN UTTER SINNER! YOU ARE BAD! YOU ARE EVIL. SO, REPENT!” (which, in my opinion, seems to
backlash and NOT work due to so many kids within a lot of Christian circles who
have entirely left the church altogether). I remember kids in Dominica who would shout out to one another with the words, “YOU are eeeeevil!” I would often come alongside these children (whose dreams and self image were typically shattered) and say, “No, you are beautiful. You did something
you should not have done, but YOU are not evil or wicked."
I feel like there is a sin management
gospel that has been infiltrated into our world that just doesn’t work. We try to manage our sins like a checking account. And, when we do this, we often focus on our dirt and grime while neglecting to see who we truly are, people of beauty! First
off, the sin raging, angry "You are bad!" word is simply a bad gospel message, which is ultimately, NO gospel message. I can give you a list of adults who heard a bad gospel message, and who no longer have any interest in the church due to fear, shame and guilt-ridden tactics. Second, the last
time I checked even the apostle Paul (who was hard on himself) said, “It’s the kindness of the LORD that leads us
to repentance” (Romans 2:4). Jesus is seen, time and again, leading people
to change with kindess, encouragement, coming to one’s side and saying, “You can do this! You are a rock star!” Sometimes, the church can mistakingly give people a half gospel (at best) when we say, "Put your faith in Jesus, sinner!" and neglect to tell them to have the faithfulness of Jesus because they are created in His Father's image! One
of the gravest sins (according to 2nd Century Rabbi Akiva) is to tell people to
believe in G-d but to fail to tell people that G-d actually believes in them. Yes, YOU can do it! You've got the biggest cheerleader in the entire world on your side.
Our ‘lil nugget turns 1 on Sunday!
I’m going to continue to provide a message in our home of, “YOU CAN DO
IT!” & "BE the someone you always dreamed you could be" in the face of a world that is going to tell her, “NO! YOU CAN’T!” I am
going to err on the side of grace, hope and unconditional love. She will be available to reach for the stars as she was created to shine bright as the stars in the sky. We are going to
watch Cookie Monster videos that make us laugh because it's both fun and deep. Guess what? There’s great
spiritual message in Cookie Monster’s videos too. Don’t believe me? Watch ‘em… there are nuggets of spiritual wisdom for my ‘lil nugget on Sesame Street.
