Harry Potter Premiere and some questions......

I have several of my teenager friends from youth group who went to the premiere of Harry Potter last night at midnight. True Potter fans they are. It seems though, that even though they are disappointed that it is not exactly like the book, they will go see it many more times this summer. Go figure. I do like Harry Potter. I know there are many Christian moms who do not, and I respect that, but our decision, after I had read the books, was to let my children read the books.

My mother was a "No, because I said so" type mom. I have used that one on occasion. Usually, I say, let me check it out, if I say no, I will tell you why. I know Harry Potter deals with wizards and all that stuff. I also know my children, and they know the difference between make believe and real stuff. Reading and watching Harry Potter has never beckoned them to delve into witchcraft. Not one of the kids I know that read the series has gotten into witchcraft. My son Tyler, who read all the books, is following his God calling and wants to be a youth pastor. So my final opinion on the whole thing is, forbidden fruit is more tempting and I found no real "threat" in the books or movies. Great entertainment.

I have truly messed up in this region too. We are true Will Farrell fans, love Talledega nights, love Elf. So, as I am cruising through the movie rental place, I see Step Brothers, don't even look at the rating and rent it. Pop it in at home, only, to my true mortification, have to pop that bad boy right back out again. Way too much adult humor, even for our fifteen year old. Yikes. Always read the boxes. Always.

We have let our children watch "R" rated movies at appropriate ages. Schindler's List is rated R. Saving Private Ryan is rated R. The Passion of the Christ is rated R. These are important films. If we do not know our past, we are doomed to relive it. Cooper has seen none of these movies because he is not ready, Tatum either. The intensity is too much, too real, and those things really did happen, so you cannot explain it away as make believe.

So weigh in on this very volatile subject. Let me know, you won't hurt my feelings.

God bless you and yours.

Grace

God's Grace has always fascinated me.  The dictionary defines grace (in the Christian belief) as "the free and unmerited favor of God."  It astounds me that we get something we don't deserve, just by being God's children.  Unmerited, that means we can do nothing to earn it.  It is a prize that we have won by believing in God.  That's it.  God's grace.  How can we extend grace to those around us?

I like to use the word when talking with my children.  Here is an example.  My oldest son had been asking for a couple of dollars here and there to go with his friends to get a pop at our corner store.  I gave it to him, never saying it had to be paid back.  A little later in this same time frame, I hear him loaning his younger brother five dollars, explaining exactly when it will be paid back, and that he owed interest.  Fascinating.  I calmly say to him, "Let me get this straight, in the past couple of weeks, I have given you about ten dollars, and extended grace to you by not asking it to be paid back, and now you are extorting money from your brother?"  He sat there for a minute absorbing the parallels and then told him brother he could have the five dollars and don't worry about paying it back.

Grace is not deserved, but granted.  Sometimes in our hectic life, we need to focus on the graces given to us and what kind of grace we can give to others.  It is easy to give grace to our children, we love their pointed little heads and even when they don't deserve it, we can extend grace to them.  It is harder to wrap our minds around this concept when we are dealing with difficult people.  I work at Starbucks.  This a a "service" job.  I love it.  But, sometimes, in the course of a day, we get a difficult customer, my answer to their question is always, "Absolutely".  Absolutely I can remake that drink, get you more soy milk, whatever.  Even if they are rude, you have to put on your happy hat and kill them with kindness. Maybe I am the only person who was nice to them that day, who knows?  

What can you say "absolutely" to today?  If you are in a work environment, maybe you have a difficult co-worker, kill them with kindness.  Be as nice as you can be.  If you are a stay at home mom, put the dishes aside when your little one asks you to watch a show with them, or play a game with them, you don't get that time back.  I watched "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" last night with all my kids.  Let your heart grow three times too big today and extend some grace to those around you.  It will make you feel awesome and it might make that difficult co-worker wonder if they could be a little nicer.

God bless you and yours.