I have a little girl, so I knew that at some point she would be pressured to look a certain way. I did not expect that to happen at the age of three.
My daughter was quieter than usual. This is not normal for her. She talks constantly. To see her suddenly quiet and introspective was somewhat unnerving.
“Mommy,” she finally broke her silence, “Girl At School said that I don’t have nice lips. She said my lips aren’t pretty.”
There are so many things wrong with this statement! First, Girl At School is in the 3-4 year old preschool class with my daughter. They’re three! Why on earth would they even be thinking about their lips?? And to tell another child their lips aren’t pretty? How is this happening?
Deep breath, momma. This is the moment I knew would come one day. Granted, I thought she’d be closer to double digits when it happened, but here it is. This is the chance to share something profound with my daughter; a moral lesson she will carry with her for the rest of her life. She can look back on this in the years to come and it will give her strength and guidance.
I looked at my baby girl and said, “Girl At School is a butthead.”
Okay, not exactly something I would submit for a mom-of-the-year award. Now, while I won’t say I was mad at a three-year-old kid, I couldn’t help but be a little upset when I saw the hurt and confusion in my child’s eyes. She shouldn’t have to deal with people picking apart her appearance at the age of three. The butthead comment just slipped out.
What’s crazy is that we were mean to God’s son, Jesus. Really mean. We killed him. That’s slightly worse than saying someone has bad lips. And yet, God still loved us. He should have called us all buttheads, turned his back on all of us, and lived in Heaven in peace. But he didn’t want to do that. He loves all us buttheads and even though we were mean to his child, he still made it possible (through Jesus’ death and resurrection) for us to join him someday. That’s pretty cool.
Before you think I’m a completely terrible mom, after my comment my daughter laughed (which was the point) and said, “Yeah she is, but I won’t tell her that because that would hurt her feelings.” So I must be doing something right.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8.