Letter to My Child

A response to the Nashville Statement & A Liturgist’s Statement
August 2017

To my child:

I loved you the minute I heard you were coming. I loved you the second you were born. Then I saw your face and fell in love even more. You were only a minute old, but I knew I would die for you and to this day I still would.

When you choose to have a child you make a conscious decision to allow your heart to walk around outside your body–a risky endeavor in this messed up world to be sure! And no matter what happens in your life, my love for you will never change. Never.

Why? Because this is a love that’s not based on what you do or don’t do, how you live your life or who you share your life with. It’s not based on what you feel, believe, or how you define yourself. The love I have for you is based solely on the fact that you are my child and I am your mom.

And because of that, I will always want the very best for you.

I will always hurt when you are hurting.

I will always suffer when you suffer.

I will always be here for you. Always.

I will always express my love the best way I know how–though sometimes, I know that doing so will hurt you. And yes, that will hurt me too.

I will always, always, always love you with my life, and I will always want you in my life.

This is my heart for you.

This is God’s heart for you too.

This messed up world will do its best to come between us. We **both** have to work at not letting that happen.

Credos will be written. Battle lines will be drawn. Divisive camps and people will seek to divide us. But at the end of each and every day you and I alone determine what our relationship will be.

I pray we can always continue to love each other well within the context of our hurt and pain and ideals and beliefs.

I pray we can continue the conversation without ultimatums that can only end badly for us both.

I pray we will determine to love each other the best ways we know how, giving and receiving respect and autonomy for the person each of us is right now in this moment, throughout every moment that comes on this journey.

And when we hurt each other, I pray each of us will be quick to make amends in a way that both honors our relationship with each other and God.

I pray we will forgive quickly and continue loving, learning, and living through this life…together.

Because at the end of the day, organizations and credos and divisive people can never replace the relationship you and I have. And they can never cause the hurting to stop. At the end of the day, I am your mom and you are my child, and nothing will ever change that.

Why? Because I loved you the minute I heard you were coming. I loved you the second you were born. Then I saw your face and fell in love even more. You were only a minute old, but I knew I would die for you and to this day I still would. No one else will ever feel this kind of love for you. No one.

This is a bond and a relationship worth fighting for.

And I am willing to fight for it and for you…to my dying breath.

I love you with my life,

M❤M