Identity

I confess, I worry about my daughter not knowing how to stand up to other girls sometimes. I know what girls are like, they can be so catty and awful. And I've noticed it start already at 3yrs old! E is 4 now and the more vocab they have, the worse it gets! No doubt there are times when "mean" things come out of E's mouth but I've yet to hear anything very hurtful or rude (and of course you want to think the best of your own children)! E is -mostly- a generous, compassionate, kind-hearted girl. As I've observed her in social situations, I've noticed that she'll stand back a little away from other children and wait until someone invites her to play or she will play on her own and wait for someone to play with her. I'd love to see her throughout the day at her preschool to see what she's like when she's more warmed up.

I've been thinking a lot about our identity in Jesus and how that guides us in our interactions with others throughout our day and just how we live our life in general. Everything we do and say should flow out of our identity in Jesus as a child of God. It's tough teaching this to children! It's tough teaching it to teenagers! And it's tough living it out ourselves and making conscious decisions every day that align with our identity in Christ.

This blog post has taken a mind of its' own! I was meant to write about resilience in children and share a story about how E doesn't seem to mind too much when girls are rude to her (though my own heart twists about and aches a little when I hear girls say cruel things to her). She offhandedly said this morning that she doesn't play with so and so because she says mean things to her. So E just chooses not to play with her. We talked about the importance of still being kind to others even when we hear them say mean things. But I was so impressed by her resilience and confidence. I know if it were me in her shoes, I would find it so hard to cope! (This says a lot about me, doesn't it?!) Maybe her responses to these experiences will stand her in good stead for later on in life when she does start living out her identity in Christ more and more - when she starts realising that to be a child of God she will act differently and live differently. If you can, please pray for her and for little E too - that they would grow up standing firm in the Lord.