One of my very dearest friends named her dog Rahab. One day when we were out for a walk, she was telling me the story of how her son thought it was terrible that she named the dog Rahab.
“Why is it terrible?” asked my friend.
“Mom!” He looked at her as if she were dense. “Rahab was a hooker.”
She knew he was talking about Rahab from the Bible. The same Rahab who was a prostitute had also given a safe place to stay to the spies secretly sent by Joshua to scout out the fortified city of Jericho. She risked her life for men she didn’t even know, putting their lives ahead of her own well-being out of loyalty and faithfulness to her God.
“Son,” she had told him, Rahab was a prostitute, yes, but she was a good person.”
While the fact that she was a prostitute remained in the forefront of her son’s memory, her goodness is what remained in my friend’s memory. Though I can’t say that surprised me, because she saw the good in everyone. It was she who taught me that just because someone does something unfavorable, it doesn’t mean that person isn’t redeemable by God’s grace. When I was complaining about something my husband had done–or didn’t do–it was she who said, “Remember what he has done for you and given to you.” And when she felt frustrated with her husband about something, she didn’t get angry. She voiced her thoughts, smiled and said, “But he’s my husband and I love him.”
That friend was brought into my life by a loving God who knew I needed exactly her and her outlook on life. He knew her words and wisdom would guide me long after she moved out of state to far away Tennessee.
The story she told me about her son’s reaction to naming her dog Rahab taught me two important lessons. It’s wise to be careful what we do in life because they may be remembered for years afterward. And the second is, when I see a person, do I choose to see the bad or the good? I hope and pray that I show enough love and grace that the good I do is what will be remembered.
Peace
What struck me here was that the child remembered what was sensational about Rehab and the mom, the quiet faithfulness. Children tend to see the glaring errors of our lives because they haven’t lived long enough or gained the wisdom and the understanding to see the good. I choose to see the good in people until I am proved wrong. Great post to start my week.
http://yeakleyjones.blogspot.com/
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Thank you. I think you nailed it–that’s why it’s so important that we model good behavior for our kids.
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It’s hard not to judge others by their past, their choices or their present position in life. But we have not walked with them and do not (cannot?) fully understand why they choose the path they did. But to be open to them as another traveler on this path called life we often find a friend.
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So true, Dean. 🙂
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What a beautiful story and a beautiful life lesson. You friend is certainly wise and so are you to glean the importance of the message out of her story. Great post! 😀
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Thank you Rachel. 🙂
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Rhonda, I have a question for you… I have just been invited to participate in a Blog Tour. It consists of creating a post, answering four questions, and then asking three other bloggers to participate. I wondered if you might be interested in being one of my three? The four questions are very good, and they give you the opportunity to talk about yourself and your writing, what you are working on, your genre, why you write, and your process. So, I would like to extend an invitation to you. I you would be interested, please let me know if and I will give you more of the details. Thank you! 🙂
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Rachel, I would love to. 🙂 Let me know what I need to do and it will get done. 🙂
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Yay! Thank you! 😀 If you will just email me at the address in this link: http://rachelcarrera.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/calling-all-writers/ (I don’t like to type the address in case spammers get it), then I will send you the questions and info. 🙂
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I like this story a lot. Reminds me a little of Ilan Shamir at the NCW Conference when he urged us to stop whining about the thing that went wrong today and instead focus on the 1,000 things that went right.
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Ilan was so inspiring, wasn’t he? 🙂
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