Yesterday morning, my 10 year old son, Matt, was surprised to find a small folded paper peeking out of his shoe which had been left in front of his bedroom door. Upon inspection, he discovered that it was a note from his big sister. One side, in capital letters was the word "NERD!" and on the back, "STUPID!" and the polite closing, "From your loving sister Emma." Matt read the note, laughed and then yelled something through her door like, "Butt brain!" or some other classic pithy comeback he no doubt gleaned from reading all those wholesome books I've been providing him over the years like Little House on the Prairie (Pa must have had an edgier side I missed).
Anyway, if you have children, or grew up with siblings, you can quickly grasp the dynamic here. Hurling insults at one another ala the French soldiers from Monty Python and the Holy Grail is actually sibling code for "I really sort of like you, sometimes..." and has been elevated to an art form around our home! (I'm so proud) I took possession of the note before Matt could gain the satisfaction of ripping it to shreds, and tucked it away for his "Memory Box," a bin which contains items from his childhood guaranteed to bring tears of sentimental joy to his eyes when he's 30, like his baptism picture and the first rock left in his pocket that I extracted from the now dented clothes dryer!
But looking at that note reminded me of something else. The body of the message "NERD! STUPID" and the closing "your loving sister..." brought to my mind with a smile the message of the Gospel, "You are hopelessly flawed!" but "You are eternally loved!" God's love note to us! Not a contradiction. Just the plain truth. And this "stupid nerd" is so thankful!
