A Good Day? - Pyjama Day!

So that was Good Friday.  Was it good?  It was for Imogen!
So what constitutes a good day for her?  Well, it is very simple - it's a pyjama day!

'That's it?' I hear you cry!  'That's all she wants to ensure it is a good day?'
'Yep!'
Now this is where I get to gloat a little!  While other parents of nine year old children can never do enough, can never take them anywhere exciting enough, can never buy them the next 'in' toy or gadget quick enough to please them, we never have that problem. Imogen is content.
When we go somewhere, ie the zoo, and we offer both kids a couple of pounds in the shop to buy a souvenir, she never spends hers. When we do venture into the shopping centre (which I must admit is a rare occasion) she never wants anything.  She is easy to please.  Christmas is tricky, last year I asked her what she would like, she said 'some paper to draw!' Is that it I asked, 'yes.....oh maybe some pens!' It makes it hard to advise extended family who want to buy a gift.   And when she does receive an unexpected gift she is so grateful, she will keep thanking people years after for something they gave her (even stuff they were getting rid of!)  She struggles to retain names, so I think it may have something to do with her linking the gift to the person in her brain to help remember the name. Anyway....

She came into my bedroom yesterday morning in her bunny onesie, declaring 'I'm the Easter bunny!', asked if she could snuggle and watch a DVD with me and settled down.  Normally we do church on Good Friday but due to her brother having a stomach bug  only my husband went. He has to, he's the Pastor!!
So we spent the day ensconced, moving from one sofa to another, watching DVDs, (the kids chose 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - a good choice for Easter I thought!)  Me?  I, as most Mums I image, struggled to do the same, I watched half a film, messaged with a friend, had a shower, got the kids food and drink, prepared for Sunday (I am running the service), made a cake, tidied up my bedroom (which was nearly equaling Imogen's for tidyness!) and caught the tail end of a different film - and that was a relaxed day!  But Immi?

My Easter Bunny!

She was content, 

she was relaxed, 

she knew she was loved, 

she wasn't being bombarded with people, 

overwhelmed with heightened senses and 

pressed to challenge herself academically. 

She was happy....
and once again, I learn.

What is your value?

Ok, it is Good Friday, so I'm going to get deep for a few moments, but stay with me, it has to do with Immi, it has to do with me, with all of us.

We are more than our labels right?  Somewhere deep down we all know that, but how?  The media and our culture certainly don't tell us that.  We are born and start being taught how to walk, talk, read, write.  We go to school to learn, to get grades, to get a job, to earn money, to eat and live and do the things we want.  Of course there is nothing wrong with this, but have you ever thought of the underlying messages?  I hadn't.  I hadn't ever thought about how much emphasis there is on our education.  I took for granted my GCSEs, A levels, degree, didn't really think much of it, until I was faced with a daughter who struggles academically, who struggles physically and who struggles socially and saw her often on the margins.

What is our value?  Where does our worth come from?  Subtly our society tells us that our worth is from what we do.  If we are at a party and say 'I'm a doctor.' (I'm not by the way!) Ears prick up, if you reply 'I'm a house wife' or even worse 'I don't go out to paid work' the conversation moves on.  But our intrinsic worth is not in what we do, it is in who we are.  I want Imogen to know that she is valuable and loved whether she never reads a book in her life or whether she becomes a professor of neurobiology.  Whether her body is whole or broken, whether she can relate to others around her or not.

Sadly, those who often bring the most brightness to our day - I think of the many people I have known with disabilities of varying levels - are pushed to the side because what they add to society isn't seen as valuable enough.  I am thankful that I am loved by a God who loves me for who I am, not what I do.  Who sees value in every life, who takes joy in each of his creations.  I want Immi to know this kind of unconditional love, not dependent on what she can give back.  Yes, those who have no faith may say, I know that all life has value and worth, but I would ask 'How, how do you know that?' Our society certainly doesn't portray

that value.  
How do I know? Because 2000 years ago God showed me. I want Immi to know that kind of love.  I am thankful that I can keep coming back to that kind of love.

What about you?  You are loved too, just for being you.