Sunday, August 14, 2011

What I Learned About Love from The Help

Who You love I'll love, is a line from Chris Tomlin's song, "I Will Follow." This is hard to live out when it comes to your enemies and those you love that have hurt you.

I witnessed this lived out in the movie, inspired by the book, The Help.

The Help takes place in the 60's during the time of segregation. It tells the story of how the black maids felt & what they experienced during this time in our history. One of the most emotional parts of the story is when one of the main characters, Aibileen is explaining the main role of the maid's job: To love and raise the children of the white families they are working for.

A recurring scene is Aibileen telling the 2 yr old, Mae that she raises, "You're kind, You're smart, You're special." She has Mae repeat this phrase back to her in the mornings and in moments where she knows Mae could be doubting these truths.

Aibileen, like all of the maids, had to leave her own children behind each day to work for these families.

-It would be easy to say, "This child is not my responsibility, their parents should be raising them!"
-It would be easy to take out your anger and frustration on the children.

Aibileen chooses to love a white child that is a product of her hateful, disrespectful parents and a stigma that should have NEVER existed. And I believe that many women loved like Aibileen, without condition or restriction.

Are you tired of fighting love? Is there someone you need to forgive and through that forgiveness you can love them again? Do you need to accept the abundant, unconditional love of God?

Treat yourself and go see this movie or read the book. It is a beautiful story of how far we've come as a society and how much more we could love.

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