Help! Love, MOM

So, you likely already know about the #very demure, #very mindful, #very cutesy trend that started on TikToc a few weeks ago, set the internet on fire and has NOT let go.

Just a few days ago another TikToc creator posted a video of a highway sign suggesting that wearing seat belts is #very demure and #very mindful.

Yep, a whole highway sign on a US highway inspired by a seconds long video on social media.

It’s possible, that, maybe, you’ve heard the words and saw the references but didn’t know the source.

How Did the Trend Start?

I’m glad you asked.

Jools Lebron, a TikToc creator, posted content about how she goes about her life in a , “very demure, very mindful” manner. Whether it’s leaving a hotel super early in the morning, dealing with a hangover, or going to work, Jools’ philosophy is to be #very demure, very mindful.

In Jools’ videos, it appears that to be demure and mindful means that one is as pulled together as you can be given your circumstances, to respect yourself, to respect others and their space, and to be aware of your overall purpose for doing a thing or being in a place at a particular time.

I’ve heard that, at first, the #very demure and #very mindful catch phrase was a joke.

But, for many people, it appears that very demure, very mindful, resonated beyond amusement as the internet delighted to view the videos of everyday folks as well as A list celebs who made their own versions of the trend.

Next, the trend quickly spread to business. Remember, please, this has just been a few weeks!

Initially, Jools reached out to start the… negotiations, if you will. The first potential business collaboration, pitched to snag a trip for Jools and her abuela (grandmother) to go to Puerto Rico, was a success.

Airbnb, the first businesses to respond to Jools’ demure and mindful overtures opened the floodgates

Then, more businesses started came calling – well, actually, salivating, over the opportunity to work with Jools!

While no one knows for sure why any trend takes off I have a few ideas about this one.

God Values People

God values all of the people all of the time.

I think Jools catchphrase is a reminder in miniature of the supreme value that God places on people. Yes, even the ones that irritate you and me.

Very demure, very mindful, can be understood as a call to include and think of the “other guy” respectfully even as you consider your own point of view.

It is a call to treat persons in a respectful manner. To treat others civilly and with decorum not because others have done, or, indeed, can do, anything for you, but, simply because, as a person made in the image of God, everyone deserves respect and consideration.

For those who have an issue with God, I have often observed that their anger at or disappointment with God often derives from the mismatch between their expectation of God (and/or His people) and their experience of the same.

Our expectation is best based on

–who the Bible says God is,

–what the Bible says God will do,

–our relationship with both of those truths, and,

–the wisdom in the faith community encouraging us both to keep the faith and to grow through adversarial struggles.

God is #very mindful of you and me

Psalm 8:4-5 The author poses the questions rhetorically to God based on supernatural revelation and experience:

What is mankind that you [God] are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?

You [God] have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.

And also Psalm 115:12

The Lord hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron.

And there are also scriptures which speak to the mindfulness of mankind to other human beings (2 Timothy 1:3 – 5) and still other scriptures of mindfulness of man toward God (1 Chronicles 16:15 – 16) .

In a time when and where violence is becoming ever more commonplace, I believe the LORD sent us a word from a, perhaps, unlikely source to encourage us to resist the pull of hatred and vitriol.

Mindfully remember: the Lord cares about what we believe and how we behave toward one another and Him.

Demurely,

Kimberly