Being kind when we don’t want to

Have you stopped and looked at our world lately? It’s full of violence, separation, anger, and so much more. It’s full of people who believe that they’re the only ones right, and you have to agree with them. If you don’t, you can end up being the enemy.

All over media, famous people, and on any social media; you see people talking and encouraging everyone to be kind to each other, accept each other, love each other, and to be decent humans. But have you stopped to realize that they’re not even following their own advice? They want us all to be kind to one another, but only as long as we all agree and believe in the same values. Wait..what? Even in my own family I have seen the division that political talks can bring up, and it breaks my heart.

One thing that I see pushed on parents is that we need to raise good humans, kind humans, accepting humans, loving humans. That all sounds great, but how do we expect to raise those kinds of humans if WE ourselves can’t be that way towards each other?! Not even just kind to each other, but we also need to teach them that the same goes for the government leaders that are placed over us.

Listen, no matter what political party you’re in, I do understand the challenges that can come up when dealing with someone of the opposite political party. I understand that their stances, on certain issues, can really drive us crazy. But parents, you’re children learn from YOU. They hear the things that you say at the TV, they hear what you say to each other, and they hear what you say to anyone that you’re talking with about politics. When you’re children hear things, then they go to school and repeat those things so then other kids hear things.

One day my daughter came home from school, and called President Trump “Donald Duck”. Now, my husband and I haven’t said anything like that in front of her. So I asked her where she had learned that, and she said that kids in her class call him that. Where do you think they heard that? I don’t think a then 4th grader could be that clever. It made me wonder if the kids learned that from their parents, which then would make them think that it was okay to repeat.

Parents, if we want our kids to be loving and accepting, then they need to see US be loving and accepting to EVERYONE. Not just everyone that agrees with us, but even those that don’t agree with us. We are called to bring up our children in a Godly way, a way that is pleasing to the Lord. We need to teach them what it truly means to love someone, and to be kind to someone. But we HAVE to teach ourselves that first. We can’t continue going around and exclaiming that everyone needs to be nice and loving to each other, but then go and act completely differently.

I am aware of how hard this can be, trust me. I struggle biting my tongue when I see a post, or hear how people are talking about others, or about everything going on in our world today. But at the end of the day, what am I wanting my children to learn? Do I want them to learn how to accuse someone of being a racist? Do I want them to learn how to force someone to believe in what they believe? Do I want them to learn how to disrespect the governing authority? Or, do I want them to learn how to love others? Do I want them to learn how to not accuse someone of being a racist? Do I want them to learn how to respect the governing authority? Do I want them to learn how to respect those who believe differently?

I want my children to learn to love as Christ loves, but in order to teach them that, I need to learn it for myself. We need to grow up, and learn from each other instead of being mean.

So even if you have different beliefs than I do, or support the opposite political party that I do, or anything else; please know that I am here to love, accept, and listen to you. I will respect you and your views, and I will try to not push my beliefs on you. Friends, I’m wanting a better, and more kind world. But it will not happen if we don’t learn how to genuinely be kind to each other.

So, I’m going to work on it. Will you too?