"Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little." Isaiah 28:10
"Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little." Isaiah 28:10
A number of experiences I have had come to thought but this one I think finally set me on the road to learning to love.
LEARNING TO LOVE
For a number of years my husband and I attended the Wednesday Testimony meetings together and because we had young children we had a regular babysitter. We needed to move house when the children were 4 and 6. Next door to us in our new house, lived a family with teenage children so it seemed we had ready made babysitters. So after a few weeks of settling in we asked if they would like to baby-sit and the son said he would.
We had some struggles with this from the beginning. At first it seemed half the road and other friends would also be invited in. We found ourselves eaten out of house and home. So we worked with them and fewer friends came round and less food was eaten. But then one morning before school the children sat on the stairs looking through the bannisters at my husband and me downstairs, and told us that they needed to speak with us. The younger one told us that they were not happy with what had been happening when the neighbours looked after them. He said they were told to take off their pyjamas, and then things happened to them that was just not right. I am so grateful that I was able to appear confident, and could tell them that I would be able to sort this out. I thanked them for having the courage to tell me. The children seemed to be happy with my assurance and I took them to school.
It was a long journey and on the way home I cried. I felt trapped so close to people who had done such wrong things to my children. When I got home I felt so distressed and anxious, but I was working towards Journal listing, I had just given up my part time employment and I knew that I needed to turn to God. I had been learning that God makes ONE man in his image and likeness and any thing else is a lie. I knew that bowing down; running these images over and over in my thought was a waste of time and effort. I needed to love, and that is what I did. I loved my neighbors and my children as His precious and beloved sons and daughters, innocent and free. I told my husband what I was doing and he was very happy to bring prayer to this situation. We did stop the babysitting; we told them that we could not afford it any longer which indeed was the truth. It was mentally too dear!
The blessing is that the children were, and have remained, completely free and untouched by the events, and we remained friendly with our neighbours before moving away not long after. I found that loving was easier than I had thought, certainly easier than hating. I also believe that by identifying my neighbours correctly I was bringing healing to the situation for all concerned.
This was a tough experience but I am so grateful that I had the tools to work things out - just to love.