step off

This is a picture of my mom, niece and nephew. At first glance you may say see three of the cutest people alive. What you may not see is a label that society wants me to put on these people. That tag is "step".

This is not the woman who gave birth to me. She didn't carry me in her womb for months or go through hours of pain to bring me into this world. Since I didn't come out of her body, people say I should refer to her as my "step mom".

I haven't heard from the woman who gave birth to me in too many years to count. I can honestly say it doesn't bother me one bit. I could choose to focus on what I don't have but I choose to appreciate what I do have.

The woman you see in this picture is the person I call "mom". She is the only mom I have ever known. She may not have experienced the pain of labor but she did experience many years of the pain of raising me. Believe it or not, I was a pretty tough (not to mention STUPID!!!) kid. My decisions weren't always laced with wisdom.

I could tell you a few stories about tomatoes, police, spit or calls from my teachers but this blog isn't about me it's about my mom. I will spare you the details of my idiotic actions. I will not, however, spare you the details of how my mom handled those situations. At first I think she was shocked followed by anger then came discipline and disappointment. She didn't treat me any different than her own child. She could've always looked at me as "someone else's kid" but she never did that. I was always her son.

I will always remember my mom defending my stupidity to my dad. She would try to candy coat it so my dad didn't bring the wrath of the belt. It never really worked though. I still got grounded and whipped, but I knew my parents loved me. They loved me enough to discipline me and keep me from continuing to make those stupid decisions.

I never questioned my mom's love for me and I never will. I used to refer to her as my "step mom" but I will never do that again. She is my mom.

My point: It is possible to love if you choose to. If we truly love as Christ loves us it doesn't matter where we came from, there are no "steps". Love others because it is what we should do. None of us deserve the love we receive from God but He chooses to love us.

When we are part of God's family we are not His "step" children. So when you refer to my mom, sister, niece, nephew, aunts, uncles, cousins... with all do respect you can take the "step" off - or you can step off!!!