Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Love to those who are different from us

soldier A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home from the war.  He called his parents from San Francisco.  "Mom and Dad, I'm coming home, but I've a favor to ask. I have a friend I'd like to bring home 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 else to go, and I want him to come live with us." 

"I'm sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him 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 be 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 received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror 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 as healthy, beautiful, or 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 strength you need to accept people as they are, and to help us all be more understanding of those who are different from us!!!

3 comment(s):

vitalyshalom said...

This is a dramatic but at the same time instructive story, that teaches us to value other people around us. How much more important it is to value each other!

Anonymous said...

Sometimes we think God loves us because we have a billiant education or awesome family or whatever. But who we are to think this way. He never looks at our faces or position, He is just in unconditional love with us.

vitalyshalom said...

Thanks for comment, Oxana. I agree with you and just want to confirm that you are completely right saying that God loved us much earlier then we loved Him. And not because of who we are ( as you mentioned) but because of His unconditional love towards us.
Praise be to Him!!!

My LIfe Review in Encouraging Stories