One Race

It's no secret; Caleb is black, and Austin and I are white. Color doesn't matter to us, and we're so in love with this boy because he's OURS! Because he's adorable and sweet and already developing such a fun little personality! We see him every day, and when we look at his beautiful skin tone, glistening brown eyes, and precious little curls, I simply see my boy! I even asked my older sister one day, "Do you think people can tell he's a different race than us?" She laughed! I just don't see it until it's pointed out!

Austin and I know that while we don't look at Caleb and see a different race, that won't always be the case for others as Caleb grows. We know Caleb will probably endure some ignorant comments at some point, and just the thought of my baby dealing with such hatefulness breaks my heart and angers me.

We have talked quite a bit about how we plan to handle those moments when our son comes home upset about a rude comment from another child or whatever the situation may be. We have said we'll remind him how much we love him and that those comments are rude and skin color doesn't matter, etc. However, in church on Sunday, our pastor said something that really resonated with me.

There is only one race. The human race made in the image of God. The whole concept of different races is a manmade idea.

God created us all in His own image. Yes, He made males and females, but both are in the image of God! From there, humans went about multiplying and filling the Earth, and we made our own divisions. Different languages were made, different nations, religions, etc. We categorized all who look a certain way and called them various races. WE did that. PEOPLE. Not God.

I'm so incredibly grateful that the Lord looks at the HEART. Not outward appearance. Not simply our actions. Not our nationality. Not our skin color. Heart. Our attitude behind our actions. Our love for Him and others. Our faith.

This is what we will teach Caleb starting now. He will know his skin color is different than ours. He will see it. He will hear about it from others. It's obvious. But WHO CARES. Anyone who does care, needs to educate themselves and allow the Holy Spirit to do a work in their life and heart. Caleb will grow up knowing that the only one he should focus on pleasing is His Creator. Period. Black, White, Brown...we're created equal by God's standards, and His standards are all that matter.

Can we all focus on doing this? Do what is pleasing to the Lord. We all slip up. We all make mistakes. But thanks to the grace and mercy of God, we have chance after chance to get back up, pick up our cross, and follow Him. If we would all set our eyes and hearts on God's Word & heart, division and hatefulness would diminish.

Acts 10:34-35-"God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fear Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him."
Acts 17:26-"And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth."
Colossians 3:11-"Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all."
Genesis 1:27-"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
Revelation 7:9-"I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb."