A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Fransico. "Mom and Dad, I'm coming home, but I've got a favor to ask. I have a friend I'd like to bring with me. "Sure", they replied, "we'd love to meet him."
"There's something you should know," the son continued, "he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mind and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere to else to go, and I want him to come and live with us."
"I'm sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help find somewhere to live." "No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us." "Son," said the father, "you don't know what you're asking. Someone with such a handicap would ba a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can't let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He'll find a way to live on his own." At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him.
A few days later, however, they recieved a phone call from the San Fransico police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believe it was suicide. The grief stricken parents flew to San Fransico and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horro they also discovered something they didn't know, their son had only one arm and one leg.
The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but we don't like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable. We would rather stay away from people who aren't healthy, beautiful, or as smart as we are. Thankfully, there's someone who won't treat us that way. Someone who loves us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into the forever family, regardless of how messed up we are!
Tonight, before you tuck yourself in for the night, say a little prayer that God will give you the strenght you need to accept people as they are, and to help us all be more understanding of those who are different from us! |
