During a series of interviews, journalist Amy H. and Fred Rogers (beloved children’s television host) became friends. The very last time she saw him, before he passed away from stomach cancer, she asked him the following question: “If you had one final broadcast, one final opportunity to address your television neighbors, and you could tell them the single most important lesson in your life, what would you say?”
This was his reply: “well, I would want [those] who were listening somehow to know that they had unique value, that there isn’t anybody in the whole world exactly like them and that there never has been and there never will be. And that they are loved by the Person who created them, in a unique way. If they could know that and really know it and have that behind their eyes, they could look with those eyes on their neighbor and realize, “My neighbor has unique value too; there’s never been anybody in the whole world like my neighbor, and there never will be.” If they could value that person- if they could love that person- in ways that we know that the Eternal loves us, then I would be very grateful.”
I’ll admit it. I got teary eyes reading this. Not only because it gave me a window into Rogers’ tender heart, but most importantly, because it reminded me of how unique you and I are. God looks at you and me and sees someone incomparable, beautiful and fascinating in our own right. Like a parent, equally in love with each one of his unique children, He is excited about getting a front row seat to see how we grow up. And while we may focus on our bumps and bruises, fearing they may make us unlovable, damaged goods, He never sees us as anything but His son or daughter. After all, isn’t that what is implied in John 3:16? When we are told that “God so loved the world…”, we seem to think that God “so loved” what the world could become if obedient. And certainly, God sees and anticipates the best of us. However, his love is not tied to our performance. God “so loved” a sinful world, full of sinful humans like me and you, that “He gave his only beloved Son”. Simply put, He may not love my bruises, but He doesn’t love me any less because of them. You can’t tell me that this love, God’s love, as expressed by the apostle John and echoed by Mr. Rogers, is not a love worth holding on to.
Furthermore, it is holding on to this love that moves us to love our neighbor better. As Rogers says, when we have God’s love for us “behind” our eyes, we become increasingly able to see and love others the way God sees and loves them.
Rogers has come to understand that, if anything he said would be worth remembering, it would be this. What about you? What do you want others to remember from you? And what if, instead of waiting for your “last broadcast”, you would start embodying that message today?
