I remember once when I was younger, my mom took me to Walmart. We were walking across the parking lot and there was a man in front of us wearing a leather jacket. On the back, it read "kill the poor."
Innocently, I asked my mom if we counted as "poor" people. She said no, and I believed her.
I remember when I was six years old, my mom lived in an apartment a block away from Dad's. Our floor was above the barber shop.
The apartment wasn't all that big. At one point, it was my mom and us three kids, one bedroom, one bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen. That was it. At another point, it was my mom and us three kids with one on the way, a step-dad, a dog (that we weren't suppose to have)... all in the same amount of space.
As a kid, I don't think I saw us as poor. I still don't see it that way, in all honesty. We had food in our bellies and pillows under our heads. Life was peachy.
I think about how much in and out, here and there, hello and goodbye we saw as kids. I know my parents did all they possibly could for us. Whether I knew it in the moment or not, I know it now. That's what every parent wants to do though. To give their kids the world. And rightly so. But I think one of the first things I want to teach my kids one day is that you don't have to have a lot to be happy.
People who have little usually have more than they believe. We make ourselves the measurement of all things and compare ourselves to others.
I want my kids to understand that you can't hold onto the world and follow God wholeheartedly at the same time.
Nothing in this world stays the same. It spins constantly. In and out, here and there. I want my kids to have stability. I want them to have something that remains. Something that doesn't change after a year or so.
When I think of me being a mom, I picture myself laying seven kiddos in multiple sets of bunk beds and putting on Nowhere Man and watching them drift off.
I pray that they'll wake with happy and humble hearts. Learning from their mother's mistakes. If not, I'll make 'em peel onions 'til they cry. Better than spanks.
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