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Let Go and Let
God
By:
Klara R., Tylertown, MS
Reprinted
from: http://www.storybin.com
Being
the mother of an alcoholic son has had its ups and downs, but as I
look back I can see more of the ups than I can the downs. The most
important one is that I joined Al-Anon, a group for families and
friends of alcoholics and drug addicts. Going to meetings helped a
lot, and one thing I kept hearing as I went was to Let Go and Let
God take care of the problem. Finally I learned this the hard way.
My son had
been sent to prison along with a friend of his for theft. They
were to be there 3 years. The friend got to go into general
population, but my son was put into solitary confinement. This
bothered me a lot since they both were convicted of the same
crime. Why, I wondered, was the punishment not the same?
I chewed
on this for several weeks—arguing, complaining, and moaning to
anyone who would listen.
One day I
was mowing my grandmother's yard. Our lawn mower was an old one
with the gas tank on the side, and I was continually catching it
on limbs and pulling it off, but always without incident. This day
was different. I was arguing with God about why my son was so
mistreated, and why did I have to go through this pain, when I
noticed that my gas tank had caught on a bush and was just hanging
from the mower. At the very moment I noticed this, I also noticed
that the mower had caught on fire.
I jumped
off the mower, desperately looking for some way to put the fire
out. At that moment, a neighbor drove by (keep in mind we live 12
miles from town). He spotted the problem and stopped his truck. He
and a passenger jumped out, grabbed a cloth from the back of his
truck and put the fire out. Once the mower cooled down, we put the
gas tank back on, and it cranked right up.
As I
continued the mowing, I thanked God for putting the fire out and
for the lesson I had learned. The lesson was "If God cares
enough to put out the little fires of my life, then He definitely
will take care of the big fire in my life, which is my son."
I simply needed to Let Go and Let God take care of it in His own
way. I did just that. I did not worry another minute about my son
being in solitary, and when he got home he said it was the best
place he could have been.
Klara
R.: reidqrhs@netdoor.com
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