I have a friend who is dealing with the loss of her mother. Then on a TV show there are an episode about a mom dying. I had the idea of that in my head and I thought about calling my own mother. Then, I thought about the repercussions of calling her.
I’ve written often about the spike monkey mother experiment. These baby monkeys come to a robot mother monkey that gives them food and is soft, but every once in a while, spikes spring up from its body hurting the little baby monkeys. Yet, they still go back to the mother monkey anyway no matter how many times they get hurt by the spikes. It is because the robot monkey is the only mom they have ever known and a mom that hurts is better than no mom at all.
When I think about calling my mom, I think to myself that I just don’t want to cuddle up and get pinched by the spikes again, so I don’t call. I wish it were different because I really do love her. I want more than anything to have that relationship with her. It is just that I can’t keep letting someone hurt me over and over again.
The Bible says that Jesus advised to turn the other cheek. I have wrestled with this one for the longest time. Yet today, I think I understand it. I don’t think it was literal. I think it was about not fighting back. If someone hits me, I should offer them my other cheek, not my fist. It seems so appropriate right now in the mist of the tragedy in Uvalde.
I just finished watching all the news. Our leaders want to “fix” the problem by meeting the gun violence with having armed teachers and armed gunmen at all the schools. They want to respond to violence and guns with violence and guns. They can’t see that isn’t what Jesus taught.
In my case, Jesus isn’t telling me to just stand there and let my mom hurt me. I should just keep going to hurt and let her tear me apart. That’s not His teaching at all. What He was saying is when she hits me with mental and emotional abuse, I shouldn’t react with mental and emotional abuse. I should protect myself and try to respond with God’s love.
I wonder what our world would be like if everyone responded with God’s love.
My faith saved me. May God’s peace reside in all of our hearts.
