ALL are Precious in His Sight

Do you remember singing this song? I do. Or if you’re a parent do your kids sing this song on repeat? I did. 

Jesus loves the little children

All the children of the world

Red, brown, yellow

Black and white

They are precious in His sight.

Jesus loves the little children

Of the world.

Jesus died for all the children

All the children of the world

Red, brown, yellow

Black and white

They are precious in His sight.

Jesus died for all the children

Of the world.

Jesus rose for all the children

All the children of the world

Red, brown, yellow

Black and white

They are precious in His sight.

Jesus rose for all the children

Of the world.

Where did the truth we sang as children go? Did we simply sing it to sing? We sang it as children, ALL are precious in His sight. He loves ALL. He died for ALL. He rose for ALL. 

I've had some hard conversations recently. None of them were comfortable. None of them were easy. They've been about racism, the difference between #BlackLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter, murder, and what this politically correct world has given us. I’m willing to bet the backlash from this won’t be comfortable either.

Preface: I’m a white girl, from an upper middle class family, and I’ve never experienced micro-aggressions, racism, prejudices, anything that could drastically alter my life.

I didn’t fear for my life when I got pulled over one evening, I started sobbing knowing the punishment that was to come for speeding, the officer gave me a ticket. I didn't fear for my life when I was pulled over about two weeks later at 3am leaving CVS, now I was scared for my wallet and what my parents might do to me, but I ran a stop sign, I deserved what the officer would give me. I got a warning thankfully, but at no point did it ever even cross my mind that I might’ve died that night because I moved too quickly, or some other circumstance (bless that officer though, I didn’t want to go to traffic school again). 

I just wonder how differently those situations could've turned out if I was black. Would my life have boiled down to a hashtag? 

But how did I get to where I'm at now mentally?

I tweeted out after the Dallas shooting "STOP TRYING TO SAY ONE COLOR OF LIVES MATTER. EVERY LIFE MATTERS. EVERY. LAST. ONE." In context I was frustrated at Old Row who had tweeted out #BlueLivesMatter with nothing else, which police lives do matter, don’t get that I don’t care about our boys in blue. I have police officers that are close friends, family, etc.  Police officers lives matter. Their job is protect and serve and they do so knowing they might not go home at night (and writing tickets, which sucks, but it’s part of their job). My uncle is a cop in the DFW area, so that tragedy hit VERY close to home. 

But what about every other color of lives? They matter too, and in my mind that’s what I was getting at. Knowing Old Row's racist and deep south mentality I was like "you've got to be kidding me." So from my context, my point of view, I was upset that this twitter account would make it appear that only cops lives matter, not the black men who lost their lives that week. I don't know their intent of that one tweet, but, that's how I took it. I took that one tweet as an aggression against the black community. And I decided to speak out against it.

Well, I had a friend say that my tweet was a micro-aggression against the black community. I was like wait really? I'm saying they all matter, but from her perspective I was using white privilege to say that, and taking away from the #BlackLivesMatter movement by bringing my whiteness back into the equation. The #BlackLivesMatter movement calls into question the treatment that minorities get in the justice system. But I was thankful she and I had a respectful conversation about this huge issue that is plaguing society as a whole. But what mattered is that through discussion she saw where my heart truly was, which is that ALL are precious in His sight and mine. 

My life has never not mattered, from history's point of view the white protestant man's life always mattered, he was the explorer, the inventor, the owner, the president (until the current president), the ______, you get the point. I want every kid, every adult, everyone to be able to know that their lives matter because they are a living, breathing human who can contribute to society to make it better. 

Jesus loves ALL the little children. In God’s eyes every life matters. Simple, right? To America no. It’s far from simple. 

Has America's mentality changed from when some humans had ownership over other humans? I'd tell you no for the most part, some have changed, others haven't. I still see a country who is incredibly divided over something that "ended" years ago but that has painful and deep ties in many hearts of an older generation that has been passed down to their children, grandchildren, etc. and we have to fight thinking that one color is better than another. I grew up in Montgomery, and just because Rosa Parks stood up in my city and fought for equality doesn't mean that Montgomery is the healed and perfect city, it's far from it. 

But this renewed spark of #BlackLivesMatter came about in the last few weeks….. There were two men shot and killed, Alton Sterling and Philando Castille, Dallas police officers, Baton Rouge officers, and many others, but these are the big stories in the media today. 

Now, I do not know the situations or exact happenings of ANY of these shootings, I'm not about to claim my obsession with NCIS, Law and Order: SVU, and CSI: Miami make me able to speak on the activity that happened. I'm not. What I can speak about is the brokenness that I see in our country's hearts. I am not here to speak about how wrong _____ was for shooting _____ (fill in for all three scenarios). That’s not what this post is about, because I cannot speak on the facts of any of the cases. Simple as that. I do not know what happened, I know what the media has said, but I don’t have the police files or evidence to review myself and even then I’m not an expert so I still couldn’t speak on the issue. I’m not about to claim the innocence or guilt of any party in those situations, it was a tragic loss of precious life and that is what matters. I want justice in every situation, whatever that means for every situation. People died and need to be held accountable for those deaths. What I want you to take away from this post is that humans need to learn to respect and love other humans. It’s that simple. 

What broke my heart is talking to a wife of a friend whom I went to church with, played ultimate with, and went to school with. I wasn't close with her before she and her husband got married, she was a year older but we had similar friends so we knew each other vaguely. We had spoken on occasion, but we weren’t BFF’s, but recently I've reached out and talked with her more. She married a man who is respectful, kind, well spoken, handsome, in the military, and if you’re wondering what is the point of this? Some in her family won’t speak to her anymore because of her husband. Wondering what’s “wrong” with this amazing guy? It's his skin tone. That last sentence breaks my heart. He's one of the kindest, generous, funny, most respectable humans I know. When I just described him I could’ve very well have been describing a celebrity, your friend, your brother. They’re an amazing couple who I’m semi obsessed with cause they’re precious humans and I cannot wait for them to have babies cause they’re gonna be such adorable babies. 

When will we start seeing people for what lies underneath their skin as opposed to what is on the outside? I hope it’s soon. This madness has to stop. Respect and love, that’s what we need. 

But to the root of all this heartbreak, tragedy, and loss of life… We need love and respect for each other as humans. Where is the love? Where is the kindness? Where is the compassion? I look around and all I see is heartbreaking news, but why is there so much of it? Sin. 

All sin in Christ’s eyes is equal. Sin sees no color, sin is *everywhere.* Satan attacks whomever, whenever, with no warning. Looking back at Biblical times, when the Israelites turned away from God, all hell broke loose. It was only when they focused on God that things began to fall into place again. 

But you know what’s better than sin being equal to everybody? It’s God’s love. God’s love is more powerful, fulfilling, and encapsulating than the sin that is filling the world. God’s grace, mercy, and compassion is greater than what the world is going through. The church needs to love like it never has before, ALL are precious in His sight. The only thing that will make us whole again is God, not legislation, not gun control, not a purge, nope. God. Yes, some great things can come from Godly people, but the respect, love, and compassion that the world needs to see won’t come from Congress, or the President, or anywhere on earth, it’s Christ’s blood that was spilled for us that will heal this country once again.

Red, brown, yellow, black, and white ALL are precious in His sight. Jesus loves ALL the people of the world, so therefore, we should too.