I don't know what you talk about around the family dinner table, but topics at my house have a wide range. From discussing why southerners have an accent to how it would be if Phineas and Ferb lived with us we pretty much cover it all.
So it shouldn't have surprised me when conversation turned to baby dolls and why some of them have ugly faces. After all, some real babies have ugly faces. (Tell me I'm wrong!)
My son, always quick to offer a solution, though not always a great one, offered this. "What if the baby doll smiled when you picked it up to look at it?" Can't you see the possibilities here? How could you put back a baby that smiled when you chose it? And what if the baby had some pre-recorded messages such as, 'Yay! I finally have a family!' or 'Thank you for choosing me!'
Are you telling me that you hate people so much that you could put that baby doll back? Are you the type of person that enjoys kicking kittens? You are, aren't you?
But if you're not, I imagine that it would be almost impossible to put this toy back. After all, you wouldn't just see the smile on the baby doll's face disappear, but that of your little girl, who is looking at you, wondering if you almost put her back on the shelf.
All of this got me thinking about how we affect people in our daily lives. If we got to see a visible expression from people that we interacted with, would we see a smile? Would we see hurt or discouragement? And how would that change our actions?
I know that sometimes ugliness from this world runs deep and we don't always see how we affect others, but would it make a difference? Are we willing to stretch out our hands to help someone? Are we willing to look around and choose someone?
After all, this would be faith in action.
Or, as James puts it;
So it shouldn't have surprised me when conversation turned to baby dolls and why some of them have ugly faces. After all, some real babies have ugly faces. (Tell me I'm wrong!)
My son, always quick to offer a solution, though not always a great one, offered this. "What if the baby doll smiled when you picked it up to look at it?" Can't you see the possibilities here? How could you put back a baby that smiled when you chose it? And what if the baby had some pre-recorded messages such as, 'Yay! I finally have a family!' or 'Thank you for choosing me!'
Are you telling me that you hate people so much that you could put that baby doll back? Are you the type of person that enjoys kicking kittens? You are, aren't you?
But if you're not, I imagine that it would be almost impossible to put this toy back. After all, you wouldn't just see the smile on the baby doll's face disappear, but that of your little girl, who is looking at you, wondering if you almost put her back on the shelf.
All of this got me thinking about how we affect people in our daily lives. If we got to see a visible expression from people that we interacted with, would we see a smile? Would we see hurt or discouragement? And how would that change our actions?
I know that sometimes ugliness from this world runs deep and we don't always see how we affect others, but would it make a difference? Are we willing to stretch out our hands to help someone? Are we willing to look around and choose someone?
After all, this would be faith in action.
Or, as James puts it;
"Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?" ~James 2:14-17
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