The Flexibility Of Love
Thursday, 9. August 2007, 01:40:10
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
A true story,
by Dorothy Minchin-Comm, a mother.
I sat with my tall, 29-year-old son, Harry, in the home of one of our pastor-friends. With us were Eva Mae, a sweet-faced little woman and her daughter, a petite brunette with a happy laugh and a deep Southern drawl. For a few moments we all just stared at one another, scarcely able to breathe. My adopted son had just met his natural mother and his half-sister for the first time.
“Does it bother you,” I once asked Harry, “knowing that you have a connection with other unknown people out there?”
In his usual deliberate way, he replied, “No. I hardly ever remember that I am adopted.”
Therefore, we decided to go together to meet his biological family. Cries of doom arose all around us. “I’ve seen these meetings before, and they hardly ever turn out well.” “What if Harry wants to live with them instead of you?” “My adopted daughter wants to meet her family, and I’m frantic.” “How can you let him think of anyone else as mother?” “Don’t you hate her?”
Instead, I had this fine, upright son to present to Eva Mae. I thanked her for the happiness he’d brought me. Weeping again, she said, “I never dreamed that this day could ever happen.” We’ve been friends ever since. Twice Eva and members of her family even came out West to visit us.
Yes, she carried him for nine months, and then broke her heart when she had to give him up. On the other hand, he’s mine in the way that comes only with rearing one sweet little boy from babyhood to manhood. I’m the one who took him through colic, Asian flu, mumps, measles, chicken pox, and all the rest. I’m the one who sent him off to school on the first day with his little blue lunch box, and then, later, flew halfway around the world to attend his high school graduation at Far Eastern Academy.
The Apostle Paul rejoiced that God sent forth his Son. . . so that we might receive adoption as sons, Galatians 4:5 ESV. In so saying, he touched on the true meaning of adoption. True love, divine and human, makes room for everyone. That’s a fact! The experience taught us all the essence of God Himself. His marvelously flexible and infinitely expandable love. Moreover, love can take risks because it knows that it’s inexhaustible.
Although this is a true story, it is not my story, so I have changed the name of the boy, to avoid confusion.
A true story,
by Dorothy Minchin-Comm, a mother.
I sat with my tall, 29-year-old son, Harry, in the home of one of our pastor-friends. With us were Eva Mae, a sweet-faced little woman and her daughter, a petite brunette with a happy laugh and a deep Southern drawl. For a few moments we all just stared at one another, scarcely able to breathe. My adopted son had just met his natural mother and his half-sister for the first time.
“Does it bother you,” I once asked Harry, “knowing that you have a connection with other unknown people out there?”
In his usual deliberate way, he replied, “No. I hardly ever remember that I am adopted.”
Therefore, we decided to go together to meet his biological family. Cries of doom arose all around us. “I’ve seen these meetings before, and they hardly ever turn out well.” “What if Harry wants to live with them instead of you?” “My adopted daughter wants to meet her family, and I’m frantic.” “How can you let him think of anyone else as mother?” “Don’t you hate her?”
Instead, I had this fine, upright son to present to Eva Mae. I thanked her for the happiness he’d brought me. Weeping again, she said, “I never dreamed that this day could ever happen.” We’ve been friends ever since. Twice Eva and members of her family even came out West to visit us.
Yes, she carried him for nine months, and then broke her heart when she had to give him up. On the other hand, he’s mine in the way that comes only with rearing one sweet little boy from babyhood to manhood. I’m the one who took him through colic, Asian flu, mumps, measles, chicken pox, and all the rest. I’m the one who sent him off to school on the first day with his little blue lunch box, and then, later, flew halfway around the world to attend his high school graduation at Far Eastern Academy.
The Apostle Paul rejoiced that God sent forth his Son. . . so that we might receive adoption as sons, Galatians 4:5 ESV. In so saying, he touched on the true meaning of adoption. True love, divine and human, makes room for everyone. That’s a fact! The experience taught us all the essence of God Himself. His marvelously flexible and infinitely expandable love. Moreover, love can take risks because it knows that it’s inexhaustible.
Although this is a true story, it is not my story, so I have changed the name of the boy, to avoid confusion.
