Some Days Are Courageously Different

A beautiful friend told me to be sure to catch Angelina Jolie's acceptance speech. The speech was at the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards.  Ms. Jolie won "best villain" for her role in Maleficent. My friend thought I would love the message.

It was easy to find the video online. By the time I checked it out, it was viral.

Her message was to young people. Ms Jolie said "different is good." She went on to share that, when she was young, she was told she was different. This was not said to her as a compliment. Quite the contrary. She explained that she was "too loud, too full of fire, never good at sitting still, never good at fitting in." Sounds like several children I know and love.  These are very amazing children.

Ms. Jolie's advice to kids was to not try to fit in. "Don't ever try to be less than you are, and when someone tells you are different, smile and hold your head up and be proud."

Such an inspiring message for children. It seems almost uncanny, the developmental need for most children to be the same as everyone else. A minor example: if your hair is curly, you want it straight. And then, if children are different due to physical, mental, emotional, racial, economic reasons, they struggle and hurt and hide and fear. Or they learn to be brave and dare to live into their differences. Such courage.

Such an inspiring message for us big children as well. We all struggle in some ways and to varying degrees with differences. We gravitate to our own "tribe." We fear differences we do not understand. We call differences flaws or even worse we call differences sin, giving us permission to live in willful ignorance and judgment.

God grant me the courage to accept differences in others, the love to work to understand those differences, and the wisdom to stand up and speak out.

From the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards 2015

Some Days We Take A Break

There were so many memorable episodes in the series Friends. Today I am thinking about "The One Where Ross and Rachel Take A Break." After senseless argument after senseless argument, Rachel finally suggests to Ross, "Maybe we should just take a break...a break from us."

I suppose that is what I have been doing. Taking a break...a break from blogging. Truth be told, over the past several weeks, I have not felt particularly inspired. Or at least until this moment, I have not been willing to share my lack of inspiration.

In my professional life, I often go to the homes of young children. It is quite a privilege to enter into a family's home. I hear the hopes and dreams parents have for their children. I listen as they struggle with their children's struggles, seeking advise and sometimes comfort, sometimes longing for a crystal ball. Most days I believe I can be a source of information, advise, and hope. And then there are the other days when I think, "Oh dear God, what the heck do I know? It is humbling.

It is also humbling to blog about lack of inspiration when life around me is chock-full-of beauty and grace. Makes me want to scream to myself, "Snap out of it!" But I would not do that to anyone else, so I cannot see any reason to do it to myself.

So, when the words come, I hope to write. Accent on the word hope. Because even days when there are no words, there is always hope.

I just looked out the window. It is snowing. It is as though the crocuses are silently, beautifully sharing this same message of hope.