I love people who don't write themselves off even when the world says they've done the unthinkable. I'm doing this piece for a dear friend whose friendship I'm about to lose. She's a colleague in the office, but what made her my friend is the courage with which she faced life after suffering what the world harshly calls a setback- she has a baby outside wedlock. For reasons best known to me, I will keep her name out of this story, but those who know me will certainly know who I'm talking about. She has a daughter outside wedlock but is so proud of her that I couldn't help but notice her enthusiasm. She's ready to tell anyone who cares to listen about her daughter, and when I finally met the cutie, it was obvious that my friend loves her 'mistake' to the marrow. The display of affection towards the baby is unimaginable- she calls her early in the morning and monitors her preparation for school on the phone, gists with her like an adult, never jokes with her health, and pampers the baby as much as she can. My friend really won me over, and by extension, my wife. In all our conversations, she never referred to her daughter as a mistake. Not once!
She's one of the few people who never allowed public opinion and gossip to regret an act many people would pay to have. She made a mistake, but never made the poor girl a scapegoat. How many of us can love the resulst of our mistakes? How many of us even accept responsibility for our mistakes? Not many, I'm sure. We would rather blame other people for our circumstance, and treat the result of such mistakes with disdain. What we fail to realize is that when we fail to admit our mistakes, we are simply saying that we are not ready to learn. If God wanted us to be perfect, then words like 'sin' and 'forgiveness' wouldn't have existed at all. When the world condemns your action, it does not mean you have to run away from learning from your action. Learning from our mistakes makes us stronger, and gives us that priceless knowledge called 'experience'.
If we want a second chance in life, we need to accept that we've blown one chance, accept the outcome in good faith, and retrace our steps. That we've done all these does not mean that the doors of opportunities will forever be shut in our face. It simply means that we are better prepared to take on whatever life has to offer. My dear friend knows that getting married may be challenging, but she never lost focus. She could have decided to live off men because she's beautiful enough to be desired, but she did not walk that path. Rather, she kept an open mind, went about her business diligently, and was blessed with friends who commend rather than condemn her. The world can write you off, but your true friends will always stand by you in difficult times- and as long as God hasn't lost faith in you, why lose faith in yourself? The world will always talk; the world will never stop talking. Let us learn to love our mistakes- no matter how painful it may be. We do not know what tomorrow holds, so let's not mess up today because of our unwillingness to live with yesterday's mistake. The mistake may not be our fault, but failure to learn from it is entirely our fault.
Because she loves her mistake, my friend is very open-minded and practical towards life's issues. Because she loves her mistake, she garnered enough experience about life, men and love. Because she loves her mistake, my dear friend finally got a man who appreciates her for who is. My dear friend is engaged, and about to get married. I'm so happy for her, but sadly, must put an end to this friendship. Not too many men understand how some friendship works, and I will not be the one to scuttle my friend's happiness.
If you are reading this, dear friend, please know that I love you so dearly. However, I want you to know that God has a purpose for making us friends, and strongly believe that the purpose has been fulfilled. I'm taking a walk away from your life, and pray that the happiness you have found will never be short-lived. It's painful doing this, but this is the way God wants it- let's not disobey Him.
Happy married life in advance, D.
No comments:
Post a Comment