“The privilege of being a toy meant that Barbie never faced adversity.”
From an article about the history of Barbie’s Dream House in the New York Times, Anna Kodé emphasized the increasing luxury of each Dream House edition. In spite of the American housing crisis of 2008, when many lost homes, Barbie’s abode kept getting bigger and better.
“The privilege of being a toy.” I’ve often wanted that privilege. I’ve wanted to escape the inescapable. I’ve wanted to have had a nurturing, warm childhood. I wanted to not feel guilty about my parenting failures.
Maybe you have wanted to escape divorce or cancer or your own parenting inadequacies. But we are not toys, much as we might want to escape the weight of personhood.
Part of the privilege of personhood in a broken world means grieving. Barbie isn’t required to grieve because her life is fantasy.
But we will lose out to adversity. We lose parents and childhoods and spouses and children, not to mention the smaller griefs of losing the Thunderbird we loved or ruining our favorite purple jacket.
And grief is the process God has arranged for us to come to terms with loss.
Do you carry losses that weigh you down?
God will meet you as you let yourself feel the depth of the loss and ask for grace to release the loss to him. Perhaps in prayer with someone trustworthy.
And his promise is that the losses of this present age are not worth comparing to the glory of the coming age.
That’s the magnificent privilege of personhood. When Jesus flings open the door on that new age, the light of his face will wash out every loss.
Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus
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