Hunting for Good

It’s a curious thing, isn’t it? You’ve read the polls. When it comes to believing in God, the millennials aren’t buying it. Yet, many of them were raised by mothers who do.

Today’s post is a guest post from a millennial who does not believe in God. She wrote it to her mother who does. And she offered to share it here... for the others. It's a Profoundly Beautiful Thing.

GUEST POST by Emma Hanes

If there’s one thing I can say about my mom, it’s that she is full of love. I can remember as a kid going hiking in the Smoky Mountains with my family and my mom encouraging my siblings and I to physically hug the trees. (They have souls after all.) While the image of a literal tree hugger might seem funny, it perfectly illustrates the love my mom has for all people and all living things.

My mom always looks for the good in people. On the hunt for the good, she sometimes sees the ultimate do-gooder, the original good Samaritan, the guy that invented walking little old ladies across the street – you know him as God.

For my mom’s birthday, I thought I would give her a gift that speaks to her own passions. I thought I would write about one of my God Sightings. The only problem is, I don’t really have them. Now this could be because God and I just don’t hang out in the same places, but if I’m honest, I know that’s not the case.

I try to see the good in people. I try to see if the big man upstairs is paying anyone a visit down here, but the best I can manage is to do the right thing or show kindness to someone because it’s what my mom would want (and because God could be standing right behind me).

It’s not that I haven’t seen the good in people or I haven’t witnessed acts of kindness, but I haven’t seen anything SO good that it must be Him. I’m not saying His acts of kindness have to be extravagant, but I do expect at least a little razzle dazzle. He doesn’t have to save five babies from a burning building, but he should at least be so kind and gentle that he brings a tear to your eye, right?

So this present for my mom’s birthday isn’t going so great. I was gonna write her an essay about a God Sighting I had, but I haven’t really had any – except one. It’s not really an event or an experience. It’s a person. It’s my mom.

How else could someone in this world continually look for the good in people? I can’t look at my brother without thinking he is completely incapable of keeping the Tupperware drawer organized, but my mom looks at every person with love, understanding and compassion. And on the rare occasion that my mom doesn’t look at someone that way, she calls me and tells me how disappointed she is in herself for losing her temper on someone or for being rude to someone.

Do you know how many times I have felt bad for being rude to someone? I’m not proud to admit this, but it’s not often. Not often at all…

My mom doesn’t just have random God Sightings, she sees the world through God’s eyes. She sees past all of the filth and negativity to see people as God made them. She sees the pain and the suffering, but she also sees hope and kindness.

I’m not saying my mom is God. I mean, if she is, why the hell did I have to share a car with my brother until I was 21 years old? Wouldn’t God be able to get my brother and I our own cars? You might say that if God made me share a car, it’s because He wanted to teach me a lesson, but let me tell you – the only lesson I learned is that my brother and I have very different standards when it comes to cleanliness.

So my mom isn’t THE God, but she does see people as God created them, as God himself sees them. Well that’s gotta be as close as you can get without being Him, and I should know because I’ve been seeing it for years.

I can’t honestly say how old my mom actually is. As long as I can remember, we celebrated her birthday without any mention of numbers. Is she 35? 40? 92? I have no idea. I’m not even sure what side of 50 she is on. For her birthday this year, I’m going to go out and try to see the good in people. I’m going to try to see people through God’s eyes.

It won’t be easy, and I know I won’t be very good at it, and I know I’m gonna slip up (a lot), but I’m going to do it for my mom because I can’t think of anyway to repay her kindness except with my own.

Who knows, maybe I’ll even get to see the man upstairs for myself! If not, my mom has already given me a pretty good idea about what he’s like.

Happy Birthday, Mom.

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After reading this post, I think I want to say this:

To the millennials: Good for you. You must find your own way. Ask questions, face doubts, push on through and STAY WOKE. Because ultimately, the truth will set you free.

To the mothers: If you believe in an All-Loving God, One who considers EVERY CHILD His Child, to you mothers I also say STAY WOKE.  And STAY THE COURSE.  Because ultimately, the truth sets us ALL free.