Tonight I had a long talk with Olivia about how she is so embarrassed with the way Brennen is dressing lately.  Namely, she takes issue with him always wearing a necklace and his hat backwards. She is taking it all very personally and we have had to admonish her repeatedly for the way she comments to him about his appearance.  Granted, I too do not love how Brennen chooses to express himself, but I reminded her about how she used to love to dress like a boy and how we (for the most part, I definitely put up a fight) let her be herself and waited for the stage to pass.  This is just a stage for Brennen too, but she isn't mature enough to see that.  I wasn't mature enough for me to see that in the beginning of her stage either, but now the second time around, I am more willing to let him do his thing.
It turns out that Liv thinks people won't be able to tell that Brennen loves Jesus because of how he dresses himself.  She thinks that kids who wear their hat backwards are punks and boys who wear necklaces are rebels and punks and rebels don't love Jesus.  Hahaha!
Well, that turned into a discussion about how no one can know what is inside someone else's heart and it is not up to us to judge people.  Only God truly knows what is inside someone's heart.  And I told her that sometimes people don't look like what you think a good "Christian" should look like, but that isn't what matters to God.
I really had no idea that my nine year old daughter already had formed an opinion about what a good Christian looks like.  I felt responsible, wondering if something I had said had caused this way of thinking.  I absolutely want my kids to grow up without a critical heart and to learn not to judge others by their outward appearance.  I felt glad for this little insight into my daughter's thoughts, this is such an important time for her.

Lord, help me to raise her with your heart!