More than princess undies

On Saturday our family watched Avatar at the movie theater. The indigenous people on the fictional land of Pandora use the phrase “I see you” in the most beautifully meaningful way. Parent to child, lovers, and strong friendships all alike will sparingly bare their hearts to each other with this simple phrase, “I see you”.

Then on Sunday, we gathered with our Restoration church family. We took a few minutes to pray for Kirtner as he begins a new mission in Rockbridge serving Young Life ministries full time. What a blessing to hear Trey's words for Kirtner! I had this image in my head of Trey simply looking at Kirtner and saying, “I see you”. For a moment, our whole church family was invited into the larger story being written by God as Kirtner had 20+ people laying hands on him because all of their stories are one in the same. 

What a perfect flow into Pastor Josh’s message - our “little s” story is part of God’s “big s” Story. As Josh told us about a time when a little league t-ball coach reminded him of this “big s” Story, I again had this image of the t-ball coach looking at Josh and saying, “I see you”. And as I briefly glanced to my right, there was sweet Shelly…

Shelly has an amazing family and a welcoming home. One fall season, Restoration read through the book Emotionally Healthy Discipleship, and I had the blessing of meeting weekly at Shelly’s home with our awesome book group. A few times I opened up to the group about the challenges of caring for a child with special needs, so did Tad and Shelly. A very typical experience of raising a child with special needs is delayed potty training. All of my parenting friends are proud of their children (rightfully so!) as they reach this magical age in development where we can stop spending time and money dealing with the hassle of diapers. This is a frustrating long battle full of two steps forward and one step back when you are raising a child with special needs. 

One day Shelly told me with so much excitement that she had a small gift as she handed me a pack of Disney Princess underwear for my precious daughter Emma. I cried the whole car ride home, and I am sobbing as I write this now. Reflecting on that moment, I felt the deepest embrace, and I relive it now as if Shelly had simply said, “I see you”.

My thought to leave with you is this: Where is your story colliding with God’s Story? When was the last time you felt seen? When is the next time you will say, I see you?