Monday, March 14, 2011

It Shouldn’t Be This Way

The boy tells the story to his mother and cries in between words. Really he’s not a boy as he will soon be 20. Yet many times he wishes he was just a boy with a much simpler life, but as all older people know, you can never go back to that place.

He has two sisters who are estranged from their family. He tries to hold on to them, knowing it shouldn’t be this way. He is younger than they. They let him into their world and he tries to pull the family back together.

It was the younger sister who used to read to him and share special times with him. It was her who used to watch out for him and be concerned what may happen in his life. Now she is the one who has made such an abrupt turnabout that causes many to wonder how such a thing is possible. It shouldn’t be this way.

I am father to these three and others too. I carry the daily pain of such tearing and turmoil. I constantly wonder what went wrong. Is there fault and blame that needs a place to rest. Should I take it on myself?

The young man says this is not how we wanted things to turn out with our family. I know that more than he. Such high aspirations we had for our Christian family. There were times when all looked well; daughters and sons who seemed to love Jesus and did things to serve in His kingdom. Even this young man teeters on the edge. He finds the allure of the world calling yet sees the damage it has done to those dear to him. He knows what to do but finds it hard.

Life is what happens when you are making other plans. I heard that in church Sunday. How true it is for me. It shouldn’t be this way, yet it is.

Philip

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