Harvest

I can handle a lot of things--and I have. Two failed marriages, health and financial problems, the usual child-rearing scenarios and a multitude of other problems too numerous and mundane to mention are among the hassles I've experienced over time. Since they haven't killed me, I assume they've made me stronger.

But one thing I can't handle is betrayal. The loss of trust it creates is incalculable; the pain, heart-wrenching; and the ever-widening circle of suffering it triggers goes on forever. Who knows where a betrayal will end or when the pain will subside? Who can calculate the cost or measure the true repercussions? Certainly not us human beings. We're so limited in our thinking, in our capacity to see the big picture, to project our actions into the future and see just how, and who, we've hurt by our actions that we can only guess at what our behavior will ultimately harvest.

Being betrayed is bad enough. Watching your child being betrayed would be unthinkable. I know for a fact that it would bring out the very worst in me; perhaps that is yet another nasty side effect of this kind of treachery--in addition to the initial agony, it also causes others to sin against their fellow man and more importantly, their Heavenly Father. Our thoughts, if voiced aloud, would no doubt betray us and reveal the very real feelings of anger and blame and deep disappointment we would naturally feel--as loving, caring parents--on our child's behalf.

I pray I never face that situation.

Until the next time...