“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” I know I have heard that somewhere :D
I am very glad to be surrounded by people who are flawed and
who make stupid mistakes all the time. I
mean, can you imagine how I’d feel if no one else was messing up but me? I am also very glad that the Lord has blessed
me with a forgiving heart because I just don’t have the time or the energy to
hold on to past grievances. I have seen some
mighty efforts in others to retain their sense of outrage and hysteria, and I
am so over that. I mean, c’mon, I’m not
in middle school anymore!
Mind you, I definitely get mad or hurt on a regular basis,
just like everyone else. But the embrace
of a friend or loved one who has stumbled in the past and caused you pain is
probably the sweetest of embraces. The hand of forgiveness that is extended even to someone who has fallen short is the most appreciated.
I am also grateful (extremely!) for the blessing of health
insurance and the opportunity to take myself and family members to the doctor
for check-ups and the like. I am now
taking some medication to help me with some anxiety and emotional issues, and I can certainly feel
the difference. Darryl is, as well, and
I keep thinking, “What if we had just had it with one another and had turned
our backs on each other because of grievances real or imagined?” We would be missing the sweet contentment we
share.
So that leads me to the reminder that I am very grateful for
the wonderful man I married just over 16 years ago. I used to think that I could never be with
anyone who wasn’t, well, perfect. Guess
what? I’m relieved to be with someone
who ISN’T perfect.
Our life has taken some interesting curves in the past four
months. I would not want to relive any
of the time before then. And I’ve
learned that, despite losing some of the aspects of our daily lives that we
actually liked, we are not just humming along, we’re actually thriving.
We did have a very sad event the other day. My sweet kitty Salem was snuggling up to
Darryl Sunday morning, and then he went into the kitchen to get a drink from
the water dish. In other words, after a
night of fighting me for pillow domination, he was acting perfectly
normal. And then when I went into the
kitchen to let Sadie in, I realized he was just lying on the floor and not even
flinching when Sadie stuck her nose in his face. He had just dropped dead. I’ll bet he was even more surprised than we
were!
On the brighter side, Darryl was able to get to Washington
yesterday, where he picked up Lindsay and her husband Jake and moved them here
with us. They are now occupying our
guest room. We’re eager to help them get
on their feet and eventually be ready to start life on their own in their “own”
place.
And that is exactly what I want from my life: To be in a position to be able to help our
kids who need an extra hand. Heaven
knows we have needed help from time to time, and we will never stop feeling
gratitude to those who have been there for us.
And the reason for the beginning of this post is learning
(again) that some people I love spend a LOT of time discussing and passing
judgment on people they should love rather than just loving…forgiving…and
supporting those loved ones. But at
least they are perfect, right? ;D
