A Life Lesson. . .Taught by a 4-Year Old

I must admit , while I always wanted to have children, I never had a clue as to how much joy they would bring to my life. My kids are always making me laugh. And you know what they say about laughter. . .it is good for the soul.

Yesterday my 4-year old said (out of the blue) as I was helping her get dressed, "Mommy, I'm brown". I said (while wondering where on earth this was coming from), "Well, yes. . .you are brown". Then referring to her sister, she said, "She's yellow". I giggled because she was just callin' it as she saw it. My husband and I have never talked to her directly about race or ethnicity, so it was interesting that she was just now noticing the differences in skin color. So, then I started asking her about different people we know, "What about Daddy?". "He's brown", she said. I asked about her teachers. "She's yellow. He's brown." Then, I said, "What about Mommy?" She paused, put her hand on my face (turning it both ways as if to get a good look at me), and said, "What is it, Mommy? What is it?". Oh my goodness, I laughed so hard. You see, my skin color is just a bit lighter than hers, but darker than her sister's skin; and I have freckles on my face or "circles" as she calls them. It was a bit difficult for her to figure it all out. Anyway, I said, "Mommy's brown". She said "Yes, Mommy's brown", as if to say, "Yea, that's the ticket!"

The really cool thing (one of many) about my 4-year old is that while she notices the differences in skin color, to her, it's like pointing out the colors of the rainbow-"Hey, there's red, there's purple. . .and isn't that neat?" -and that's it. The differences do not affect who she talks to or with whom she plays. It does not affect who she holds hands with or who she hugs. Her nightly prayer list consists of people from all kinds of different racial backgrounds. She loves everyone!

Perhaps we (including myself) could all take a lesson from my 4-year old. Think about it, what would the world be like if we actually obeyed God and we loved our neighbors (regardless of their skin color) as ourselves? How awesome would that be?!

I am also reminded of a children's book, God Makes Us Different, by Helen Caswell. The last page of the book reads, "So I guess God makes our outsides all different , just for fun. But he makes our insides all alike, and He loves us, every one". Hmmm, unconditional love. . .what a concept!