Imagine a small child jumping on the bed. Their parents have told them over and over again to not jump on the bed. Even still, the prospect of bouncing up and down is far too much fun for the child to adhere to their parents’ simple instruction.
“Please stop jumping on the bed!” the parent says again.
“Why?” the child asks.
“You’ll get hurt,” the parent explains how the bed is not a safe place to jump so high. They explain how the child will fall off the bed, and they won’t even be trying to do so.
“I’ll only bounce,” the child tries to negotiate.
Ten minutes later comes a crash, and the child screams. Even though they were “only bouncing,” they bounced too hard and flew off the bed. They are scared, hurt, and worried about what their parents are going to say. If only I didn’t jump on the bed! they think to themselves.
Many of us have experienced this scenario. We all try to prove to our parents, our friends, our peers, our society, that we can do anything without causing problems.
But no one can escape the consequences of their actions.
Even though most of my Dear Readers do not have their parents telling them that they should avoid certain actions, we all receive these sorts of instructions in a different way. We see other people trying to do something, and we watch it all fall apart.
Then we go ahead and try to see if we can accomplish a task.
Some of us try to go out every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and tell ourselves that we will feel fine come Sunday afternoon, only to find that the raging headache does not subside.Some of us try to work 80-100 hour work weeks and tell ourselves that we won’t burn out, only to find ourselves breaking down in the middle of a random Thursday morning. Some of us will try to sleep with anyone and tell ourselves that we will find “the one,” only to find ourselves laying alone in bed wondering where our lives have gone.
We all sin, and we all tell ourselves that it will be ok.
Then, like the child who bounced a little too hard on the bed, we fall down and get hurt.
But the story does not end there.
You see, my Dear Reader, the parent never left the child. They were waiting just outside the door for the child to climb off the bed for fear of getting hurt or by crashing to the ground. As soon as the child crashed to the ground, the parent rushed in to the room to pick up the little one and make sure they are ok.
The child can respond in two ways.
The first way is for the child to push their parent away. This is not because they do not love their parents, but it is because they are scared that they have upset their parents. They do not want to break the rules, and they do not want to be punished. “I’m fine!” they’ll scream, even though everyone in the room is well aware that they are not ok.
Most of us are like the first child.
But I’ll get back to that.
The second way is for the child to fall in to their parents’ arms and let them help. Even if they risk being scolded or punished for jumping on the bed, they know that they need their parents. They cannot heal their own boo-boo’s. This child can respond in this way because they trust their parents with their weaknesses.
Why?
Because they know that their parents love them, no matter what.
My Dear Reader, where are you hurting right now? Do you know what lead you to where you are right now? Did you see the scenarios that could have told you what not to do?
Your parents are here, and they love you very much.
You see, my Dear Reader, you have incredible parents who love you more than anything, and all they want is for you to be happy. They know that you will be afraid of many things, and they know that you will take unnecessary risks. They know that you will get hurt. They know that you will sin.
Your Heavenly Father and Mary, His Mother, are here for you Dear Reader.
And they are sad Dear Reader.
They are not hurting because you offended them. They are hurting because they know you are in pain. They know that you are sad, and they empathize with your struggles. They are not sad because you did not listen to them; they are sad because you did not trust that they would take care of you forever.
They know that you will want to push them away for fear of hurting them.
Yet they love you just the same. No. Matter. What.
Let them help you get better. Let them help you fix the broken parts of your life. Let them be there in your suffering, in your struggles, in your pain. Let them love you. It is all they want, just as any parent wants, to love their child and bring a smile to their face.
They love you, no matter what.
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