Who are the people in your life that show you a new way of being?
My boys are definitely those people for me.
One of my six year olds is someone who just jumps right into life… and into the street. He walks across parking lots with abandon no matter how many times I warn him to look both ways. He also will climb a tree, a light pole, and the vertical beams outside a school building if I don’t stop him in time.
He also wants to know about EVERYTHING… even if it’s not necessarily appropriate to stop someone and ask them their personal stuff. “I’m really not sure they wanted you to ask why their hands are so wrinkled, kid…”
And then, of course, once he’s discovered something, he wants to talk it out until it makes sense.
Loudly.
There are times when his extroverted nature and his overwhelming curiosity drive me crazy! But there are also so many times when it makes me marvel at this tiny human God brought into my life… and so many times when I learn something from it.
Like when we showed up at a crowded sno cone stand the other day, and the kid walked directly up to every person there, shook their hand, and asked them their name… right before he shimmied up the tree next to the stand and says “Mom, look at me!”
He kept on creeping into everyone’s personal space but in a way that seemed to say “I just want to know about you.” (Or maybe steal a bite of your sno cone…)
If I’m honest, he breaks through walls for me. He helps me start conversations when I would have instinctively kept quiet. He keeps me moving. He helps me to be bolder.
He helps me see people as they are.
And love them as he does.
We all have people like this in our lives, but what we may not realize is that we are this person for someone else.
I know. I have trouble believing it about myself.
But I think it must be true.
And the reason we have so much trouble believing it is that often we often have no idea when or how we have touched another’s life in a positive or impactful way.
But I’m sure we do. All the time.
We will continue to do so if we approach each new encounter as a chance to show love in the only way we can – by showing up as our imperfectly perfect selves.
