August 7th

Peter’s Vision

              About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.  He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance.  He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners.  In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air.  Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.”  But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.”  The voice said to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”  This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven.

Acts 10:9-16

            Peter is just trying to do the right thing.  The Law that God gave to Moses was very clear on which animals were okay to be eaten and which animals were unclean and unfit for consumption.  It was part of the core identity of the Jews that they would not eat certain meats or break the laws that God had given to them.  They would be blameless and God’s favor would rest upon them as both individuals and as a nation.  Destruction came on those who defied God’s Law.

            But then Peter had a vision.  In that vision God explicitly told him to kill and eat unclean animals.  Was this a test?  Did God not mean what He said?  Had He changed His mind about what was good to eat and what was sinful?  Maybe Peter was not hearing right.  Maybe he was just dreaming while he was hungry and his imagination was playing tricks on him.  But the words that he heard stuck with Peter, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”

            What God has made clean, you must not call profane.  What God has made pure and beautiful and holy, we are to not call broken and shameful and cursed.  When God looks at one of His creations and says, “It is good,” we are not to shrug our shoulders and say, “Meh.  It could be better.”  That goes for our world.  That goes for us.  That especially goes for our children.  What God has made clean, you must not call profane.

            The Ancient World looked at disabilities and mental illness as curses from above.  Individuals with special needs were usually discarded, their community unable to shoulder the additional burden.  The Modern World has more resources and more understanding of what creates disabilities, but it was not that long ago that mental institutions were the only option for families with special needs members.  Today, parents who have a special needs child are given strategies and sympathy, resources for how to minimize the impact upon their lives.  They are given diets and therapies that will help their child live more typical lives.  Underneath all of these best-intentioned gestures is often the basic idea that our kids are a burden that we have been chosen/called/cursed to carry.

            No.  No.  No.  No.  No.

            Our kids have been beautifully crafted and created by God, just like their peers.  They have been gifted with skills and abilities and passions and dreams, just like their peers.  They have to learn how to face the dangers and pitfalls of the world, just like their peers.  My wife and I lose just as much sleep for my two daughters as we do for our son.  God did not make a mistake when He gifted your child to you.  Your son, your daughter…they are not tests for you to show your faith or your parenting skills.  They are not tools to grow your character any more than other children are.

            When God looks at my son, He laughs and whispers, “Amazing,” through tear filled eyes.  He does the same when He looks at your child.  Beautiful.  Amazing.  Good.  Perfection.  Child made in the image of God.  All these apply to our kids and what God has called holy, no one…not doctors or therapists or case workers or teachers or relatives or peers or the media…no one may call them cursed.

A moment to reflect:

In what ways have you seen yourself or your child as cursed?  Name those and let them go.