Irrepressible joy and "safe people". Trust me. There is a connection........

There are times I can't help but notice the irrepressible joy in that little (almost) 5 year old boy of mine. And every once in a while a little sadness creeps into my soul when that irrepressible joy appears. Why you ask? Well, the majority of the time I just truly soak in the pleasure of those little outbursts. The sadness comes in when I realize that someone out there....possibly out of just pure meanness, will try to squash that joy. By way of a nasty comment or even jealousy, they will make him self conscious and he won't feel comfortable just shouting out a silly song to the top of his little lungs. Right now, he feels safe. He doesn't have any idea that someone might not find it pleasurable to hear his slightly off key rendition of "Keep the Candle Burnin" or the Thomas the Tank Engine theme song.

Here is where the connection to "safe people" comes in. This past Sunday, Pastor Curt taught about small groups and their importance in the Christian community. His sermon was about how important it is to have a group of people you can really really talk to. To share things that are personal. To just be yourself. To be comfortable. They need to be people that you KNOW won't make fun of you or talk about you behind your back or roll their eyes to one another when you talk. They need to be people that you feel SAFE with. I thank God that I have "safe people". What a HUGH blessing! What I pray is that my little guy can find those people. That he can find people that LOVE the fact that he sings out loud when he is happy. That those people don't care that his voice may crack or that he may not hit a note exactly on key. I pray that he never loses his irrepressible joy and that if he someday finds that maybe there are people that make fun of him for it, that he won't stop because he knows he has "safe people" that love him and will sing off key, at the top of their lungs, right along with him........