By Katie Marie
For today's discussion post, I thought to talk about Kathryn Cushman's recent book, Another Dawn
. In the book, there is one lesson that stands out from all the others.
After Grace returns to her hometown to help her father recover from a surgery, we discover that she blames him for the death of her mother. It's a valid reason for her to blame him - it really was because of something he did and chose to do.
But not long after this...something happens in their little town. Because of a decision she made years ago for her son, the town has become infected by a serious illness. As young babies fall sick, everyone begins to blame Grace. It was her choice and she chose not to do something concerning her son's medical records, and now the babes in their small town were suffering for it.
It wasn't long before she made the connection - the townspeople were doing the exact same thing to her as she was doing with her father.
Because of a decision HE made years before, her mother died and she blamed him.
Because of a decision SHE made years before, the babies in town were sick and they blamed her.
She had come full circle.
It was hard for her to admit this. But when she did, she realized how wrong she was. Now that she was on the receiving end of blame, she could look at her attitude towards her father in a whole different light. Sure, his actions still resulted in the early death of her mother...but her actions also resulted in the serious sickness of several young children who could die from it.
Often, you think and see things very differently when you are actually IN the shoes than when you are an onlooker to the situation. Grace realized this first hand. She had wanted to hold a grudge against her father for her entire life...but now she couldn't. God had shown her, through a series of circumstances, that you should not judge someone when you do not know or understand the entire situation.
Has this ever happened to you? You think one way, but then when you are actually IN a situation like that, you see things totally different? I know I have! It reminds me that we, as Christians, should not judge others when we ourselves are not in that situation. The bible says not to judge. Period.
"Judge Not, that ye be not judged." Matthew 7:1
Photo credit: Lori Warman
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