SWEEPING

I remember in the 60s, a time when most mothers stayed home, but my mom worked outside the home. It wasn’t a popular choice. She didn’t have to, but she always insisted on having her own money and told stories of working as a teenager cleaning people’s homes for hours and getting paid hardly anything. The money she did make, Grandma took to pay bills. It was a time of frugality and meager survival, but Mom said they always had plenty of delicious food on the table. I have no doubt these experiences molded Mom’s choices later in life.

Have you ever noticed, so often, a person’s early life experiences direct their later choices in such a way to reflect the exact opposite of what they went through? It’s like a knee-jerk reaction because they don’t want to repeat the negative experiences and emotions, and it’s such a personal thing because each person perceives an experience differently. It explains why parents who have raised all their children alike might have adult children who live and parent their children very differently than their parents did.

Oh, to be in the stage of life where looking back brings a comfortable understanding and humble forgiveness offered to others, as well as ourselves, for our young insecurities and lack of knowing better. We can even forgive those aware of what they are doing, and we do not need their permission. We can decide to keep our side of the street clean without sweeping the trash to the other side. It is truly a sweet time of reflection and closure to give the gift of mercy, forgiveness, and love and to accept it.

Time stands still, and the heart is finally at peace. Thank you, Heavenly Father. Thank you so much for never letting go.

“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32