You make it sound like I'm sending my kid to hell
Or violent combat
Rather than public school.
You make it sound like they're forsaken by God
As they roam the halls of their school.
As if the love of God cannot course through
those very halls.
As if that old dingy school
Isn't utterly enchanted by His presence.
I want her to see for her own eyes
That she cannot flee from His Spirit.
That it isn't found just within the walls of home or church
That it isn't accessed through a carefully curated education
But that it awaits her in every classroom
Dances around her at recess
Fills her belly at lunch.
I guess I don't want my child to see "the world"
As an argument to dismantle
or a theory to disprove
but as a bunch of human beings
Glorious, messy, valued
that she belongs to them
And they to her.
I want her to practice
seeing God's image
in every single person.
Is her school really a war zone
for which she must be dressed for battle?
I wonder this as I watch her principal bend down
In pouring rain
To tie a kid's shoe.
Perhaps it is:
Volunteer moms battling against hunger
Enemy lines painted by dads
in the shape of a four square game.
Paras fighting against adversity and inequality.
This is a battle
I don't want to miss.
Is her school a hellish, God-forsaken institution?
I guess when I see
Children fed for free
By volunteer moms and dads
handing out ketchup packets and hugs
When I see
Many colors, many abilities,
Many income levels
All playing together
What I see is the Kingdom of God.
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