Sharing the Savior’s Story

Seeing Things Differently

We see things differently. That thought was reinforced for me this past week when I was in a grocery store checkout line. I was behind a woman who had a little boy in her cart. His name was Jerome. I know Jerome was his name because she said it a lot. “Jerome, quit crying. Jerome, quit whining and I’ll take you out for ice cream. Jerome, don’t disturb the people. No, Jerome, you can’t play with the cigarette lighters. Jerome, be a good boy. Jerome, behave yourself.”

Now Jerome was an attractive little lad with rosy cheeks, curly hair, and a personality somewhat akin to Attila the Hun. If I had asked Jerome's mom to describe Jerome, she would have said something like, “Jerome is a cute little boy who is filled with a natural curiosity and a powerful personality.”
That's what she saw. But when the rest of the shoppers and I looked at Jerome, we saw that the four horsemen of the apocalypse—death, famine, plague, and pestilence—had a little playmate called Jerome. Jerome’s mom would have been shocked to hear people describe her cuddly cutie as conniving, self-centered, and spoiled. If mom had asked, more than a dozen people would have held her place in line if she had excused herself to apply some correction to Jerome. But she didn’t, so we stood in line, amazed at this 25-year-old, 127-pound woman being pushed around by 23-pound Jerome. Yes, we see things differently.

Excerpt from The Lutheran Hour broadcast of: December 28, 2003