A Little Story of Unconditonal Love...My Story

When I was 10 I moved with my family into a new neighborhood, started a new school, made a new friend. Her name was (and still is) Elisabeth Thompson. (Spelled with an "S", not a "Z"!!) We became fast friends. Elisabeth was from a Pentecostal family. I came from a mother who flitted from one religion to another most of my younger years, then resigned to nothing after she married her last husband.

Elisabeth and her sister Janice, wore long skirts, even to swim in. Long sleeve shirts in the Summer. Their hair, dark and thick, so long they could sit on it, had never been touched by a pair of scissors. They did not have a Christmas Tree growing but but did celebrate the birth of Christ and the Christmas Season. Elisabeth didn't dance, didn't have a Tv, and read Archie comics like they were great literature. (Who knows, maybe they are?)

Elisabeth had parents who were married and to this day are still married. Her mom, oh her mom, Sandy, has this smile and warmth to her that I have never seen in anyone else. She is just the sweetest lady you could ever hope to know. (Bakes a mean cheesecake too, by the way!) Sandy was always so kind to everyone. That being said, I have seen her mad a time or two. Like the time we told Janice (the little sister of Elisabeth) that if she cut her Barbie's hair, it would grow back or the time we stayed out past dark (pre-cell phone era here people, had to be home by the streetlights!) and she was worried sick something horrible had happened to us. Elisabeth and Janice had and still have one of the greatest mom's I have ever known. She doesn't know it but she has been a role-model for me all these years.

Jackie, the head of the family, was a quiet man. He worked alot and hunted just as much as he worked I think. He was always quick to smile at our antics. I think he was confused by our friendship but he never told his daughter she could not be my friend. He and Sandy, I am sure had their struggles like we all do but when they looked at each other you could see the love that maybe went unsaid between them. A love that never saw in my own home. They could speak to each other without ever saying a word. I always found this fascinating because I think you really have to be connected and in love with someone to have that ability.

This family taught me a life lesson and likely have no idea the impact they have had on my life and I know them well enough to know that is okay with them. They did not teach me this lesson to gain pat on the back or for people to say " look how wonderful they are". They did what they did because they truly loved me for who I was and they love Christ for who He is and wanted to show His love to the world.

You see, Elisabeth and I could not have been more opposite. Talk about Odd Couple!

 I was a child born to an unwed mother, whose choices in life had left me scared and angry. I was an outsider, always looking in, looking to fit in. I dressed, well lets just say interestingly and my hair, oh my....that hair was a source of ridicule and teasing most of my life. I had few friends in school. Most are still my friends to this day. The majority of the kids I attended school with, teased me, treated me like dirt and were less than pleasant to be around if you did not look and act like them. They had no idea the Hell I was in at home. The beating (yes beatings) I endured along with the other abuses to horrible to really talk about. They just knew I was different and that made me a target for their words and actions. Some of those kids grew up and became wonderful people who I am glad to know now. Some are still caught in that cycle of bullying and self-promotion at the expenses of others. I feel bad for them. They lead a sad life. I pray for those people and I thank God for the ones who changed.

I remember going to church with Elisabeth with my head half-shaved, a rat tail down my back and a chip on my shoulder. I did not fit the "Pentecostal" profile at all. I would stand in that pew surrounded by people who looked nothing like me, acted nothing like me and while some of those people I'm sure questioned the Thompson's for bringing me there, the Thompson's never did.

They let me know that Christ loved me no matter what I was wearing, what my back ground was and what demons my past held. They let me know they loved me, so different from their norm but they loved me.

Do you know how they did that? I was not preached at. I was not told I was going to Hell because I didn't dress, act, or look like them. I was not ever turned away from their door for any reason. To this day, I know I can walk up into the carport of that blue house on McGehee St and I will be greeted with loving arms and a big hug. Divorced, remarried, blue-jean wearing, margarita loving me. I know this.

The Thompson family embody Christ and His love. His love for everyone. I know they did not agree with every choice I made in my life. I know that I did things differently than they believe is the right way. I also know that at the end of the day, none of that matters to them. I know that they love me like Christ loved them. Flawed, messy, a little crazy but mostly just a child in need of a loving parent. Which is what I have in God. They live what they believe. I try to do the same.

Why am I telling you all this about my friend and her family? I will tell you why.

With all the drama going around now I think that we have all lost sight of a simple truth. Christ came for all of us. He said to love Him and to love others as He loves us. There were no added conditions to this. None. For that fact alone, I am eternally grateful.

The Thompson family lived their Faith. They stood firm in their beliefs. I saw this with my own eyes. I also saw that even though they believed a certain way, they did not condemn others for not following their path to God. They lived their lives in a way that never compromised their beliefs but that also allowed others to see God through them. Isn't that the whole point, people?

You do not have to agree with a person to love them. You do not have to go along with their life or down their path with them, but you are commanded (yes commanded) to love them.

You cannot expect anyone to feel Christ's love radiate through you and reach those long forgotten places in their hearts if you place conditions on that love. And when you say to someone God loves you BUT, all they hear is what comes after the "but".

Its not "sugar-coating" God's word to love people as they are. Its a door-way. And some people really need to find that doorway that will lead them to God. God will take it from there. It is not our place to judge another or put words in God's mouth. God Himself, through his son, Jesus, said....Wait for it.....L-O-V-E.

I share this with you so that maybe just one of you who reads it will understand that love is the only answer. Love changes people from the inside out. If you want change, love, love everyone. Even the ones who are different than you.

Who knows, nearly 30 years later someone will share how you showing them love changed the course of their life. A seed needs time and tenderness to grow.

I challenge you all to go sow a seed of love today.


Love to you all,

Sandy