April 23, 2018
Understanding and Choosing Forgiveness
Sometimes things make us irritated. Loss, waste, and destruction of life are hot spots for me.
We have livestock.
Honestly, I can shrug off an owl or hawk picking off a young chicken. I can understand the predators are getting food and my unguarded (or less than perfectly guarded) animals become easy prey. We learn how to build a better pen or protect our animals better for the environment we have. But I hate waste.
I had never faced a human killing animals indiscriminately. Until yesterday, neither had the girls. They love to show off their animals and share their experiences: from soft, fluffy biddies to newly laying vibrantly colored pullets to nuzzling Guinea Pigs. The girls love animals and wouldn’t think of hurting them just because. Even the “mean” cockerels (young chickens we will eat or sell, sometimes a rooster just has a mean disposition and they stay locked in the pen for protection!) are treated with respect. They will be grilled chicken dinner or traded for feed money, anyway, so they serve a purpose.
Once, we had a child swipe a biddie because it was “so cute and I wanted it,” but her brother returned it the next day because it “looked sick.” (Unfeathered baby chicks have to stay under a heat lamp at about 100o and yes, without that heat, they get sick.) We could understand that but the girls kept explaining to this little child that if she wanted to hold them and play with them, she could come to our yard and ask, but the biddie needed to stay with her “sisters.” (The other chicks.)
Recently, a child came to the house, systematically killed several hens, stole most of the young chickens to bait a dog, and took eggs. We didn’t want to believe it was true. His family returned the two live ones that managed to make it and graciously paid money to replace the lost animals. One of the accomplices was one of the girls’ friends. The girls went through many emotions: devastation, betrayal, anger, sadness, joy (when discovering the one rescued young chicken was the last female Buff!), compassion (when they decided they needed to pray for him), and forgiveness.
It took a while to process. We discussed trust, honesty, betrayal, sin in the world, fallen man, how we shouldn’t be bitter, how Jesus calls us to love regardless of how people hurt us, and eventually the anger and sadness turned to compassion and forgiveness.
For me, I went through the same emotions. It was hard to swallow and move on because of how hurt the girls were. I wanted to protect my children from these emotions. I didn’t want them to feel betrayal – they had allowed “friends” over and shared their animals with them and at least one of these children were part of the attack and theft.
Instead, I chose to help coach them through the emotions. It was right to feel betrayal, anger, and sadness. Those emotions are normal. They had to understand how sometimes good people choose to follow evil and are sad about what they did. (Case with their friends.) The girls had to forgive.
And by the end of the next day, they were laughing and playing in the yard with their reconciled friends. True forgiveness means forgetting and moving on. That, despite the loss and hurt of the morning, made my heart happy. Of course, I hope they never feel betrayal, but – reality check! – in this fallen world, it is likely that someone else later in life will hurt their hearts – and they will have to forgive to keep their heart from bitterness.
Yes, I found that if I allow God to move on my children’s hearts, He can turn their hurts into joy.
Thanks for reading!
Type at you later…
~Nancy Tart