“Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth.” -1 John 3:18
In my six and a half years of parenting, I’ve had to tackle a few challenging topics: Life, Death, Heaven, and where babies come from. Some days I want to pull out my hair, and other days I just laugh. His entrance into public school sparked several of these conversations. The first day of PreK he came home and informed me he had joined a gang. You can imagine my surprise- we had a little sit down about what a gang was and what they did and what would happen if I ever heard him say he’s in a gang. Not another word has been spoken about said gang.
This year in Kindergarten he has a little boy in his class who is Jewish. He wears a yarmulke, so my son initially asked why, and wanted to know more. His teacher has done a wonderful job of teaching them about the different holidays. They learned about a menorah this winter. One afternoon we passed a synagogue and he asked why there was a menorah on the sign. I told him that’s where Jewish people go to worship. After he realized that we go to different places of worship, he asked what the difference was between someone of the Jewish faith and someone of our faith. I barely got the words out of my mouth when he yelled, “WHAT?! They don’t believe that Jesus is God’s son?” He looked devastated and almost angry. He was ready and prepared to go to school the next day and tell his buddy all about Jesus and that he was wrong about Jesus. I just smiled and explained that it was okay if other people didn’t believe like we do, because above all else, Jesus tells us to love one another; and that’s what he should do to his friend who believes differently than he does. He shook his head and promised we would still be kind to his friend.
I’m proud to know that my child will stick up for Jesus, but at the same time, it was a reminder for me that even when I’m mad or angry or don’t agree with someone, Jesus calls us to love one another, because that is exactly what he did for us.
Taylor Easttom, Edmond Campus Director of Children’s Ministry
