A Story is told about a soIdier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco. Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I’ve a favor to ask. I have a friend I’d like to bring home with me.
Sure, they replied, We’d love to meet him. There’s something you shouId know the son continued, he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mine and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us.
I’m sorry to hear that son. Maybe we can help find him some where to Iive. No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.
Son, said the father, you don’t know what you’re asking. Someone with such a handicap wouId be a terrible burden on us.
We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should come home and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to Iive on his own. At this point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him.
A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had di-ed after falling from a building, they were told.
The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn’t know, their son had onIy one arm and leg.
The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but we don’t Iike people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable, We would rather stay away from people who aren’t as healthy, beautiful, or as smart as we are.
Thankfully, there’s someone who won’t treat us that way. Someone who loves us with unconditional love that welcomes us into the forever family, regardless of how messed up we are. Tonight, before you tuck yourseIf in for the night, say a little prayer that God will give you the strength you need to accept people as they are, and to help us all to be more understanding of those who are different from us!