*Disclaimer—not lumping ALL Christians into this group! So don’t send me hate mail or a theological _________________ about how you walk in LOVE all the time!
It’s no secret that I call myself a Christian. Well, I hope it’s not a secret. I am and I say it proudly. When I say that though, I want to say that I think I am one of the coolest people you might ever have the chance to meet. But, that isn’t what I want to write about today, now is it? (But really, I am a really cool person!)
It recently came to my attention that some of my fellow Christians, don’t like the fact that I adopted a “Black” kid (their words—not mine). Now, as with any story, I admit, I am leaving out some of the details (details like—obviously, “[I am]…a lesbian because I adopted a black kid as a single woman” or “I got a tattoo on national TV of my black kid—so I am not only not waiting for God’s order of how a family is built, but I am scarring my temple!…”) surrounding this scenario. Granted, some of these people have known me for years and it’s pretty sad that judgment, racism, and ignorance still rule their lives. And for some of this—I blame me! I have clearly not been a good enough influence or example in their lives to steer them away from such things (add this to the list of things I gotta step up my game for this year!).
But I just want to take a moment to thank all my non-Christian friends (and even strangers) who have had NOTHING but amazing things to say about my adoption. I just want to thank you for loving my son—no matter what. I just want to thank you for offering to watch him and be kind to him. I want to thank you, random lady at Target, who bought me diapers! I just want to thank you for not judging me for wanting to adopt as a single woman and not say things like, “You should have waited for your husband, so that you could adopt in God’s ‘right’ order. You are out of God’s will by having a child out of wedlock!”
Thank you my friends who are worshipers of Buddha and Mohammed, non-believers, Jews, Hindus, GLBT’s (I know this isn’t a religion, but they are part of my life and they love me and K), Atheists and Agnostics (if I left you out, it wasn’t on purpose) for caring about the cause and the plight of orphans like I do. Thank you for knowing that my tattoo, that I was blessed to get on national television, wasn’t just about the tattoo. Thank you for knowing that tattoos don’t totally define who I am. Thank you for knowing that my son is funny and smart and creative and witty and snarky and goofy—just like his Mama!
Thank you for understanding that there are so many things out there in the world that matter besides petty stuff. Thank you for being aware of what is going on in the world with things like, oh I don’t know, the plight of ¾ of the world trying to get access to clean drinking water. Or maybe, just maybe, you might like to know that right here—in our 1st world life: 13,500 children are diagnosed with cancer every year in the United States, 1 in 5 children diagnosed with cancer will die and everyday, 46 school children will be diagnosed with cancer. Or maybe worry about/focus on this: More than one in six people worldwide—894 million people—don’t have access to this amount of safe freshwater. How about the fact that there are 340 million people in the world living with HIV. Let’s think about there are possible 17 million orphans in the world due to AIDS. Oh, but why stop there! Every day 5,760 more children become orphans!
Ooopsie, Mr./Miss/Mrs. Über Christian—am I making you uncomfortable? Am I revealing trade secrets? Am I ratting you out? Well GOOD FOR ME!!! Get over it! I am not telling non-Christians anything they don’t already know about you—you suck sometimes. You judge them for piercings and hair color and dating choices and music choices. You judge them for not being just like you!
Don’t get me wrong. I know plenty of people who serve God, love God and love others. I adore them. They are in my inner circle of friends, but so are the other people I am thanking in this diatribe. I have said all of this to say, I still love you—you judgy Christian! NO MATTER WHAT! That won’t ever change. I will still hug you when I see you! I will continue to pray for you because the Bible tells me to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” I love you because God loved me when I was unlovable. I love you because I don’t always deserve love and I still get it, so you will get my love too! I love you because…just because!
But—I will end this the way that I started it—thank you, from the depths of my heart, the people in my life who love me and K—just because!
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