Ok, so I’m sitting here crying like a baby.  Happy tears I promise. Well, a happy mix at least.  I watched the sweetest thing and have shared it below. It was a combination of courage and kindness, compassion and love. It was a vulnerable bearing of the soul. And the song sung was absolutely beautiful.

What caught my attention first was that the singer is a ‘pediatric mental health nurse’.  It probably caught my attention because I’m in the middle of reading a book on childhood adversity called The Deepest Well by Nadine Burke Harris, M.D.. It deals with the long term adverse effects of trauma on children. It is confirming of so very much that I see and feel in the classroom. As a teacher I’m trying to see what I can to do help develop resilience in my students who are really struggling. This book addresses so much, and I’m hopeful that it’s a gateway to me being able to be a more effective teacher for the many students I have who struggle deeply with those unspeakable things that have occurred or that will occur– or just the fear of what the next day might bring.

And this man, Michael Ketterer, this father of 6 (5 adopted foster children), talked about helping children to not just survive, but to thrive and DREAM. Thriving and surviving are two totally different things. As a pediatric mental health nurse, and a foster father, well, he’s probably seen some adverse effects of trauma a time or two. This father wants to equip these children but also to help them come alive and dream and be and live out their own individual missions. He shared a few words then vulnerably stood on stage …and sang his heart out.

He sang “To Love Somebody” and I can’t help but think his wife and his children felt absolutely adored. By his courage. By his vulnerability. By his words. By the willingness to put it all out there for the world to see.

Well, as I watched,  I cried like a baby for a lot of reasons. But one thought kept recurring….that we all need someone to love us like that. The Deepest Well talks about how one stable adult in a child’s life can help “buffer”, strengthen, cushion the impacts of childhood adversity. One. We all need a sense of belonging. Am thinking this man’s children felt that not just as he sung on stage, but in the day to day commitment to be the father to those who needed a dad.

Saint Augustine said that “God loves each  of us as if there were only one of us.”  I so believe that. But we’ve gotta have ears to hear and eyes to see that love. The Father in this video loves, loves, loves his family….and it looks to me like his children know it for sure. Thankful that God’s love is even greater…each one of truly does have an advocate, a voice, one who knows and loves us more,,,and sings to us of His love in countless ways. Am thinking we truly can’t comprehend…we ‘don’t know what it’s like’….how deep His great love is for us. But boy, do we catch glimpses. Praying each of us can catch some glimpses of the Father’s love for us, and share that with those around us…

The video is SO worth watching ❤

Blessings~
Heather

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.”  Romans 12:9-10
“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”  Zephaniah 3:17