Unconditional love...

A quick story to break up some of the philosophy-type talk...though it does fit in.

A couple of years ago I got a call that one of our kids was in trouble at school and had been arrested. It wasn't the first time for him, but it was the first time I had to go and pick him up. I listned to the school resource officer explain the situation; I listened to the counselor. I watched my son sit there in a haze not really hearing any of it, only sitting with his head hanging down.

Neither of us said a word until on our way out to the car. The only thing I could think of to say was "I love you, and I don't know what we're going to do but we'll figure it out." I wasn't sure he even heard me or paid attention.

A few months later we were in a discussion group at church talking about parent-child relationships. In this discussion he brought up that story and vividly recalled the words that I had said and even shared how that had made him feel, had taken some of the fear out of his mind. There were certainly consequences, and he expected those, but I wanted to tell him that he didn't need to doubt our love or commitment. I'm glad he was listening.

So many times in our lives we have to deal with problems, some of which we created. In those times we need to hear those words from God (He is always saying them, we just may not be listening). Sure, there are consequences just from our humanness (we have all fallen short), but that doesn't take away God's unconditional love.