I spent this weekend with my neice's situation heavy on my mind. No she's not pregnant or anything like that (phew), but she's so unhappy. She has had such a tough life and now she finds herself living with her Mom (who has some mental health issues), fighting with her Dad (who told her a few days ago that she is dead to him), bored because she doesn't get much parental supervision or scheduled activities, and depressed about her lot in life. She is such a smart and pretty 14 year old and deserves so much more. I'm nervous that she may eventually decide to run away. I sent her a message today asking her to consider me as an alternative if she is unhappy. It's a scary thought to even consider caring for a teenager, but part of me kind of hopes she does. I want so much more for her than she has.
I spent some of this weekend thinking about the word redemption and what it means. Not necessarily the religious context of it, but the taking a wrong and making it right idea. I think this stuck with me because I watched a few movies over the weekend in which the themes were about making things right and using your pain to help others. Like everyone I have had some painful things happen to me and have struggled with the anger and despair that often accompanies being hurt. In the book The Shack the author calls his main character's pain (due to the murder of his youngest daughter) "the Great Sadness." This makes sense to me because some of the bad things that can happen in life seem so consuming that they haunt you no matter how hard you try to ignore them. I am often reminded of this fact when something new in my life causes me pain (a conflict. a death, etc). All of a sudden the floodgate of old pain re-opens and I find myself back at the beginning of my pain...
that was realy kind of you. I hope things work out for your niece.
ReplyDelete~ Danaya