How do we react when someone messes up something in their life? Initial responses could range anywhere from "I can't believe he did that!" to "Whew, glad that's not me....." Reactions can tend to make the offender left feeling judged by all those around him. I saw just the opposite of that yesterday.
I have a friend who's been through some tough times lately. He and his wife learned about 6 months ago that their 17-year-old son is an alcoholic. For the past 4 months, this young man has been in a treatment center for kids with addictions. It's a boot camp environment, one to teach resposibility and new habits. Early last week, my friend found out that his son had "earned" a 48-hour pass and could come home for a couple of days. Things were tense at first, neither parents nor son knew exactly how to act. But in time, they realized that just being together and knowing there was plenty of love to go around was enough.
The three of them came into church yesterday morning. One person after another approached the teenager, but not in a judgmental way. The contact ranged from handshakes to hugs. The mom/wife would later say that she couldn't keep it together during church because of all the acts of love shown her son's way. People didn't see them and turn away to talk about their situation, but instead came to them in a spirit of love.
That's probably how we'd all like to be treated after messing something up in our lives.
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