Dear Miss C,
All over the news are stories about intolerance. It’s so disheartening to watch the news because every day there is a new story about new shootings, racial and sex discrimination. Seriously. I am a Christian woman, and sometimes I think that we are part of the problem! How can I teach my child to love everyone, when every time I turn around, other Christians are the ones making things worse? Please help me to understand!
—Rose
Dear Rose,
To respond to this question, I consulted with my friend, and Pastor at Riverside Christian Church, Regan Clem. The most basic answer is, you teach your child to love because it is who you are, and inside your core beliefs. You raise your children to love in the way you believe love should be given.
Rose, how do you define love? Does love affirm, wherever you are in the journey? Or is love an action? If love is an action, then it is a tool to help change the world and intolerance around you, one moment at a time. And words from Regan, “But here is the problem we often fall into. We want the world to change without changing ourselves. We want our community to change without changing ourselves. We want to live our lives to change without actually changing anything.”
So to teach your child to love, show them the changes that loving makes happen in the world. You will continue to see the negative stories in our daily news. We are overwhelmed by horrific stories in newspapers, on TV, and via the internet. Many of those stories involve Christians as a perpetrator of hurt.
It is, as you said, disheartening, but Christians are just humans. So they will continue to make one mistake after another.
My best advice is for you to guide and show your children how to love and overcome the negativity by which we are often bombarded. Ensure your children through your own actions, that with faith and love we have the power to change, and inspire change in others.
Blessings,
—Miss C
