Clarification

Very recently a reader of this blog pointed out to me that my post about the book, The Shack, may have implied that I have discovered something very awful about my husband. Please let me assure you that that is definitely not the case. And I want to publicly apologize to him if that is what anyone thought. I knew it was going to be hard for me to express in writing what the "skin of knowing" quote meant to me and now I am sure that I did a chop job of explaining it. I'll try again here.

As most of you know, I am a teacher. I am currently teaching preschoolers who are just about the most fun and joyous type of people to be around. However, preschoolers tend to think about things very literally and to see things in black and white. This is why you may often hear a preschooler say, "You're not my friend" or the infamous, "You're not invited to my birthday party" (stated indignantly even when the birthday is 9 months away). To a young child, if their friend does not behave in a certain way they think they can no longer be friends with that person. In my classroom this happens when their friend plays with someone else, sits by someone else, etc. Thankfully, as we grow older we become more flexible in our thinking. This flexibility allows us to accept and even love people who don't share our beliefs or who don't look just like us or act just like us. In fact, as adults we are often very willing to overlook the annoying or aggravating habits of those we love due to the very fact that..........we love them. So what I was TRYING to say in my previous post is that I find it a beautiful fact of life that our love for others is able to grow over time even as those we love do things that surprise us, upset us, or disappoint us. I am the first to admit that I have done many things to surprise, embarrass, upset, and disappoint the people in my life who claim to love me. (My previous post may be just one of many examples of this.) And sometimes I do those surprising, embarrassing, upsetting and disappointing things over and over even though I know they are surprising, embarrassing, upsetting and disappointing. How wonderful that the people who love me are able to "grow" their love even in spite of this. Am I making any sense now? I hope so. And again, my sincere apologies if anyone thought for even one second anything negative about my DH. I love him........he's a great daddy, a great husband, and an all-around great guy.