"I just wish people would stop being mean.....!!!"

Cody's been dealing with a bully at school this week. Two days ago, on the playground, apparently, this kid kicked Cody where it counts, so he jumped the bully, and he backed off. Apparently, he was back at it again today. Perhaps the kid's a sucker for punishment. I don't know. I also don't know if it's wise or not, especially these days, and in the public schools, but we didn't exactly discourage him from standing up for himself. He's such a sweet-tempered kid. I'm sure he's a lot like I was as a kid. Prone to being hassled by bullies, but when the button's been pushed enough times...

Anyway, while chatting with him earlier tonight about the situation, he just looked up and in a pleading sort of way, said "I just wish people would stop being mean.....!!!" Later on, while reading a self-described article on Bruderhof.com by Howard Zinn about hopefulness for the future, I was struck by the similarities to the themes of childlikeness and childlike faith that we've been talking about in church, and here in the house lately.

I decided to go back to Tim's blog . and check it out again. His recent talk (sermon, really...or as close as you'll get to one at K10, anyway) was on the Gospel teaching about becoming like a child. I think Tim accurately brought out that what Jesus meant by this teaching was, for the most part, about humility. However, I think he may have overstated the case that the first-century readers would have had *no* concept of the common, romanticized version of childhood of our own day.

If that was truly the case, then you would have to ignore scriptural reference to 'put[ting] away childish things,' and 'can a mother forget her own child?,' 'Rachel weeping for her children,' etc. Certainly, folks in that day loved their children dearly, and thought of them in what we would call, 'romantic' ways. Yes, children in that day would undoubtedly be much more likely to be 'non-persons' without property rights, whose status was lower even than servants in their households, but still, they were their precious possessions, their 'heritage of the Lord,' and therefore, highly valued.

I wish we'd all stop being mean, too. But how do I inculcate in my son the notion that that's just the way people are? That that's the problem with us? That we are, as the catechism puts it, totally depraved?

One of these days, God's gonna put it all right. In the meantime, I need a little dose of that childlike faith and humility, to trust God that He's got the whole world in His hands, and that He's going to work it all out to the good.

Amen!