A post from Twitter.
Give grace while you still can. Love people while they are still alive.
My dad was an addict. He died from an overdose in 2018.
I once got mad at him when his food stamp card was denied and I had to cover his groceries.
It wasn’t about the money.
I gave him a hard time when he broke my glass measuring cup.
It wasn’t about the cup.
He commented on a new haircut and I was enraged because he’d already seen it and I assumed he was too drunk to remember.
It wasn’t about my hair.
I drove him from doctor to doctor, from rehab to rehab, but I was frequently short-tempered. Visibly put out by what he required of me.
It wasn’t about the time.
He was homeless for many years. He used to stand on corners with a sign and ask for whatever money or food people were willing to give.
I loved him, but I was frequently embarrassed by him.
I was mad about my childhood and what bled into my adulthood, and I found any way to take it out on him.
He’s gone now and I’m not mad at him anymore.
I’m mad at how much I let my inability to forgive him affect our relationship.
Now he is free and I’m chained, weighed down by all the grace I couldn’t bear to give a person who so wholly was in need of it.
Give forgiveness. Because my regret over withholding it is stronger than all the anger I felt throughout the years.
Scarlett Longstreet
Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Colossians 3:13
Give grace while you still can. Love people while they are still alive.
My dad was an addict. He died from an overdose in 2018.
I once got mad at him when his food stamp card was denied and I had to cover his groceries.
It wasn’t about the money.
I gave him a hard time when he broke my glass measuring cup.
It wasn’t about the cup.
He commented on a new haircut and I was enraged because he’d already seen it and I assumed he was too drunk to remember.
It wasn’t about my hair.
I drove him from doctor to doctor, from rehab to rehab, but I was frequently short-tempered. Visibly put out by what he required of me.
It wasn’t about the time.
He was homeless for many years. He used to stand on corners with a sign and ask for whatever money or food people were willing to give.
I loved him, but I was frequently embarrassed by him.
I was mad about my childhood and what bled into my adulthood, and I found any way to take it out on him.
He’s gone now and I’m not mad at him anymore.
I’m mad at how much I let my inability to forgive him affect our relationship.
Now he is free and I’m chained, weighed down by all the grace I couldn’t bear to give a person who so wholly was in need of it.
Give forgiveness. Because my regret over withholding it is stronger than all the anger I felt throughout the years.
Scarlett Longstreet
Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Colossians 3:13
