Lessons from Lizzie McGuire

Hello, friends.

"No one person can save the whole world." That's a familiar phrase from my blog, but I want to share with you where I first learned it. It's not where you might think.

When I was younger, I was a big Disney Channel girl. One of my favorite shows was Lizzie McGuire. I vividly remember an episode in which Lizzie and her friend ran a successful food drive at their school. Because of their success, Lizzie became obsessed with volunteering and other noble pursuits - she started forcefully collecting items for the homeless shelter and sorting out trash and recycling at home, and she even became a vegetarian. She yelled at her mother for leaving the water running, her friends for making paper airplanes, and her teacher for not printing a pop quiz double-sided.

Lizzie's parents sat her down to talk about her behavior. They pointed out that she was taking on too much and running herself into the ground - she couldn't save the world by herself. If she really wanted to make a difference, they said, what she needed to do was pick one thing and go for it. Her heart was in the right place, but she needed to calm down and allow herself to rest.

Lizzie tried to do too much. She wanted to support the food pantry and homeless shelter. She wanted to recycle more and help animals and save the earth's resources. None of those things were bad, but she was only one person, and she couldn't do all of those things at once.

When I was in college, boy, did I make a Lizzie mistake. I tried to be a key leader in Students for Life, Puppet Ministry, and Small Groups all at once while still participating in other activities and taking a full course load. Everything suffered for lack of time and energy until I realized that I had tried to do too much. All of the things I was doing were good things, but I was only one person, and I just couldn't do all of them at once. I had to give some of them up in order to give my best effort.

It's easy to fall into that trap. We can become "yes-people," always agreeing to do anything that sounds good. That is a mistake. It's better to do one or two things, and do them very well, than to do five or six things poorly. It doesn't matter if all five or six things are good and important if you can't do them well.

Right now, in my life, I've picked my things. I'm a foster mother. I adopted a dog from a rescue. I donate money to my friends who are missionaries overseas. And when an important cause comes up, such as the recent tragedy in Manchester, I give a one-time donation. I can't afford to give my money to every charity, although there are many charities that I believe in. If I did give my money and my time and my energy to every worthy cause, I'd be broke and exhausted and unable to help any new causes in the future. I have to pick and choose. That's the choice that I have, and it's a good one. By picking my things, I'm able to help more people in the long run.

I can't save the whole world. But I can make a difference, one person and one cause at a time. And so can you.

Sinners, Saints, and Supergirl

Hello, friends. Disclaimer: This became much more intense and potentially divisive than I originally intended.

I've recently been watching the wonderful show Supergirl. It's deep and meaningful and action-packed and also just plain silly at times. I love the idea that Supergirl (Kara) is an all-powerful alien and also a vulnerable person who sometimes needs to decompress over pot stickers with her human sister. It's actually her sister, Alex, who intrigues me the most on the show.

The sisterly bond between Alex and Kara is a joy to watch. They argue, they banter, they save each other's lives, they eat ice cream on the couch and binge watch tv shows, they do what they think is best for the other person with complete disregard for their own safety... Their relationship is the best part about Supergirl.

Beyond her connection to Kara, Alex is a fascinating individual in her own right. She's a bio-engineer, an expert in hand-to-hand combat, and a sharpshooter. She is courageous, independent, and strong. She dedicates her life both to protecting Kara and to protecting innocents. Everything she does is about helping make the world a better place.

She's also lesbian.

I'm well aware that many evangelical Christians would say that her sexual orientation negates all of her good qualities. That her sins outweigh her good works.

That is true for all of us.

I work for a confessional Lutheran church and I do believe that homosexuality is a sin. I also believe that lust, disrespecting your parents, cheating on homework, and idolizing sports teams and celebrities are sins. There are no perfect people. Romans 3:23 reminds us that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." All means all. All means you. All means me.

I struggle with sin. In college, and again in Florida, I struggled with sin so much that I went to a trusted mentor and confessed it with repentance in my heart. And do you know what they told me? They told me that I was forgiven. They reminded me of the next verse in Romans that reads, "and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." I was convinced, and sometimes still am, that my sins were beyond forgiveness. That my sins were too big and too bad for God. But nothing is too big and too bad for God, and I am forgiven and free. I know my mentors well enough to say that if my sin had been homosexuality, and I had come to them and confessed it with repentance in my heart, they would have told me exactly the same thing - that I was forgiven. Because my sins do outweigh my good works. That's why I need Jesus.

Alex is just a character in a tv show, but she is not an unrealistic one. Okay, maybe the part about having Supergirl for a sister is a stretch, but apart from that? She is all of us. She's a sinner in need of a Savior. And if we reject her simply because her sin is homosexuality, then we reject all those like her. We offer hatred rather than compassion, inspire fear instead of trust, and ultimately fail in our call to minister to people who need Jesus in the same way that we do.

So the next time you're watching tv and you discover that one of the characters is gay or lesbian, don't reach for the remote. Instead, take the opportunity to understand.