Dear Amy Schumer
(an open letter, or, Why I Am Not Broken Hearted to have a New Baby in This Crazy, Messed-Up World.)
I saw you this election year. You were on fire. You were using your time in the public spotlight to stand for and promote what you so strongly believe in. You stood alongside your choice for the presidential race, and you campaigned right through voting day.
I'm with you (kinda). I think that women are strong, capable, powerful, and wise world-shakers. It's astounding to think that just a "few" years ago, women were not even allowed to vote in this country, yet here we are and women are holding political offices and running for president.
Then, like you, I watched in disbelief as Donald Trump was elected president of the United States.
However, unlike you, I wasn't devastated. I was not hopeless. I did not spend that night or the next few days in mourning.
And I most certainly am not broken hearted to have given birth to my son the same year that President Trump was elected -not because I voted for Trump (because I didn't) and not because I fully support Trump (because I don't), but because I know that the greatest way for anyone (let alone a woman) to impact the world is to do it right where he or she is.
This world is full of evil, and it will be until the day I die. A president is not going to change that. I have a hope and joy that does not have to rely on political offices, on health, on religious freedom, on laws, on social network standings, on news headlines, on job security.
Because I have a certain hope in the promises of God and a relationship with Christ, I can -no, I am COMMANDED to live out that love and grace and truth that I have been given.
My greatest impact in this world will not be my choice on voting day, but rather, will be in the relationships that I have with my husband and son. It will be in the relationships that I develop with the youth in this town, it will be where I choose to invest and donate time and money to people serving people here and across the world, it will be in the time I take with my nieces and nephews, it will be at work with patients and co-workers, it will be as I stumble my way through this messy thing we call life alongside my local church family (and countless other spheres).
The reality is that if our president would have been Hilary Clinton instead of Donald Trump, I still would have woken up the next morning before I was ready to a hungry boy, kissed my husband goodbye as he left for the uncertainty that LEO work brings, and spent my days and weeks and months doing life.
It made me sad to see you and many others so devastated by the outcome of the election because it made me realize how hopeless life for you must be. And I want you to know, Amy, that it doesn't have to be that way. There's a God, and you are his image-bearer, living in rebellion against him. But, he has made a way to reconcile that relationship with you through his Son, Jesus Christ. All because of his great love. It's mind-blowing, really.
I pray that you can know true forgiveness and true hope one day. Because, while you can make a lot of people laugh while shaking up the cultural (mis)perceptions of women's bodies and female objectification (good on ya), it's not going to matter in the end.
A life lived for Jesus is the only life worth living.
I hope to be a little more open and honest about my daily struggle to figure out the practical implications of that in this space. You're welcome to check back in from time to time. :) Until then, I hope that we can ALL be a little kinder to each other.
Cheers,
Liz
I saw you this election year. You were on fire. You were using your time in the public spotlight to stand for and promote what you so strongly believe in. You stood alongside your choice for the presidential race, and you campaigned right through voting day.
I'm with you (kinda). I think that women are strong, capable, powerful, and wise world-shakers. It's astounding to think that just a "few" years ago, women were not even allowed to vote in this country, yet here we are and women are holding political offices and running for president.
Then, like you, I watched in disbelief as Donald Trump was elected president of the United States.
However, unlike you, I wasn't devastated. I was not hopeless. I did not spend that night or the next few days in mourning.
And I most certainly am not broken hearted to have given birth to my son the same year that President Trump was elected -not because I voted for Trump (because I didn't) and not because I fully support Trump (because I don't), but because I know that the greatest way for anyone (let alone a woman) to impact the world is to do it right where he or she is.
This world is full of evil, and it will be until the day I die. A president is not going to change that. I have a hope and joy that does not have to rely on political offices, on health, on religious freedom, on laws, on social network standings, on news headlines, on job security.
Because I have a certain hope in the promises of God and a relationship with Christ, I can -no, I am COMMANDED to live out that love and grace and truth that I have been given.
My greatest impact in this world will not be my choice on voting day, but rather, will be in the relationships that I have with my husband and son. It will be in the relationships that I develop with the youth in this town, it will be where I choose to invest and donate time and money to people serving people here and across the world, it will be in the time I take with my nieces and nephews, it will be at work with patients and co-workers, it will be as I stumble my way through this messy thing we call life alongside my local church family (and countless other spheres).
The reality is that if our president would have been Hilary Clinton instead of Donald Trump, I still would have woken up the next morning before I was ready to a hungry boy, kissed my husband goodbye as he left for the uncertainty that LEO work brings, and spent my days and weeks and months doing life.
It made me sad to see you and many others so devastated by the outcome of the election because it made me realize how hopeless life for you must be. And I want you to know, Amy, that it doesn't have to be that way. There's a God, and you are his image-bearer, living in rebellion against him. But, he has made a way to reconcile that relationship with you through his Son, Jesus Christ. All because of his great love. It's mind-blowing, really.
I pray that you can know true forgiveness and true hope one day. Because, while you can make a lot of people laugh while shaking up the cultural (mis)perceptions of women's bodies and female objectification (good on ya), it's not going to matter in the end.
A life lived for Jesus is the only life worth living.
I hope to be a little more open and honest about my daily struggle to figure out the practical implications of that in this space. You're welcome to check back in from time to time. :) Until then, I hope that we can ALL be a little kinder to each other.
Cheers,
Liz
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