{"id":2003,"date":"2012-09-28T00:58:45","date_gmt":"2012-09-28T07:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.learningtogetherathome.com\/?p=2003"},"modified":"2012-09-28T00:58:45","modified_gmt":"2012-09-28T07:58:45","slug":"been-thinking-about-being-a-truth-teller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learningtogetherathome.com\/?p=2003","title":{"rendered":"Been thinking about…. being a Truth Teller"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This girl surprised me tonight. \u00a0Actually she’s been surprising me a lot lately.<\/p>\n

I had to leave for the evening and I left her elder siblings in charge of the herd. \u00a0Birthday season is on a roll in our family and I needed to do a little shopping without the kids. \u00a0When I got back and checked in on each of them, I was truly surprised to find a tear stained little girl waiting for me. \u00a0She had convinced herself that I was taking a really long time. \u00a0So long, in fact, that I must have been in a car accident or suffered some other terrible end. \u00a0So long that she had gone through half a box of kleenex and made herself get the hiccoughs.<\/p>\n

She poured out her heart to me. \u00a0Told me all about how she had begged God to bring me home. \u00a0Asked me (not for the first time) about what would happen to her if I went to Heaven first.<\/p>\n

I am choked up just writing all this.<\/p>\n

It’s tough stuff.<\/p>\n

Stephen and I have always tried to tell our kids the truth (Okay, except for that one subject involving a jolly old elf in a red suit… but that’s another story for another time.). \u00a0It’s something that we’ve taken a lot of flack for over the years from family and friends. \u00a0But that’s just us. \u00a0We aren’t very skilled at finessing a fine story when our kids ask us a pointed question. \u00a0And early on it just became the most logical thing to tell them the truth when they have questioned us on things.<\/p>\n

Why do I have to eat my veggies?<\/em><\/p>\n

Why does that man use a white cane?<\/em><\/p>\n

Why does the neighbour lady stumble funny when she comes home late at night?<\/em><\/p>\n

Why did the policeman take away that man?<\/em><\/p>\n

Where do babies come from?<\/em><\/p>\n

Will you ever die?<\/em><\/p>\n

{What will happen to me if you die?}<\/em><\/h2>\n

<\/em>Now there’s a show stopper.<\/p>\n

Each of our kids has wondered this allowed during their preschool years. \u00a0I don’t honestly know if this is age appropriate thought material or not. \u00a0Perhaps we breed morbidly focused children? \u00a0Regardless, when it has come out of their mouths, we have told the truth.<\/p>\n

“Only Jesus knows, but here’s what the plan is no matter what and you can trust us to take care of you. \u00a0You can trust Him.”<\/p>\n

And off they would go. \u00a0Sure it would come up again if a friend or aquaintance that we knew passed on, but honestly, it seemed to be enough.<\/p>\n

For Grace? \u00a0Not so much.<\/p>\n

It seems as though a lifetime has passed for us with our girl.<\/p>\n

I chose the photo for this post on purpose. \u00a0I really love the camping dirt. \u00a0The chubby toes. \u00a0The relaxed grin. \u00a0The lounging girl in the hammock. \u00a0Such a picture of carefree innocence.<\/p>\n

Such an antonym to the churning worry that lies beneath her surface.<\/p>\n

I could go on about how trust takes time. \u00a0How she’s been let down before by those who should’ve been able to protect her from the leaving\u00a0<\/del>abandonment. \u00a0There I said it.<\/p>\n

But what really hits home is the contrast.<\/p>\n

She goes about her days happy as a clam. \u00a0Flitting from fairy to pixie. \u00a0And underneath lie the questions.<\/p>\n

Am I safe?<\/em><\/p>\n

Am I worthy?<\/em><\/p>\n

Am I loved?<\/em><\/p>\n

I don’t have the magic truth that will be the balm to her soul.<\/p>\n

And so we dance the dance. \u00a0Parry the questions. \u00a0Again and again and again.<\/p>\n

And maybe the best I have to offer is in my willingness to waltz when she asks. \u00a0Meeting her toe to toe. \u00a0Looking deep in her eyes. \u00a0Letting her read my very soul.<\/p>\n

Being a truth teller.<\/p>\n

And again and again and again.<\/p>\n

I love this girl.<\/p>\n

She is my heart.<\/p>\n

And she is so very, very worth it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This girl surprised me tonight. \u00a0Actually she’s been surprising me a lot lately. I had to leave for the evening and I left her elder siblings in charge of the herd. \u00a0Birthday season is on a roll in our family and I needed to do a little shopping without the kids. \u00a0When I got back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,54,11,13],"tags":[63,5,6,59],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningtogetherathome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningtogetherathome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningtogetherathome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningtogetherathome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningtogetherathome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2003"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningtogetherathome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2007,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningtogetherathome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003\/revisions\/2007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningtogetherathome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningtogetherathome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningtogetherathome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}