Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Children do not know how their parents love them, and they never will till the grave closes over those parents, or till they have children of their own.
-- Edmund Vance Cooks
As adults, we may feel we were cheated out of a "normal" childhood because of our parents' emotional, physical, or spiritual failings. We may think they should never be forgiven for their actions or inactions when we were young.
Yet imagine what our lives would be like today if we did not forgive. We would be bitter, stomping angrily through life with a clipboard in hand, ready to write down the name of the next person who crosses us. It's time to throw away the clipboard and the names on it - including the names of our parents.
The program teaches us to love those who come into our lives, even if we don't like them. It teaches us forgiveness through our Higher Power. We do not have to like our parents, but we can love them. By the same token, we need to realize our parents love us in their special way. They aren't perfect - and neither are we.
Help me remember my parents did the best they could with what they had. That's all anyone can really do.
Children do not know how their parents love them, and they never will till the grave closes over those parents, or till they have children of their own.
-- Edmund Vance Cooks
As adults, we may feel we were cheated out of a "normal" childhood because of our parents' emotional, physical, or spiritual failings. We may think they should never be forgiven for their actions or inactions when we were young.
Yet imagine what our lives would be like today if we did not forgive. We would be bitter, stomping angrily through life with a clipboard in hand, ready to write down the name of the next person who crosses us. It's time to throw away the clipboard and the names on it - including the names of our parents.
The program teaches us to love those who come into our lives, even if we don't like them. It teaches us forgiveness through our Higher Power. We do not have to like our parents, but we can love them. By the same token, we need to realize our parents love us in their special way. They aren't perfect - and neither are we.
Help me remember my parents did the best they could with what they had. That's all anyone can really do.
From the book:
Night Light by Amy E. Dean. © 1986, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation
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