About a year after Shirley and I married, I was passed over for a job and I knew I was better qualified than the person they hired.
A day after receiving the news, my mother-in-law, Cornelia Brackett, listened to my moaning for a few minutes. Then she said, “It was probably good for you.”
“Good for me?”
Then Mom Brackett said, “I used to worry about you because you’re bright and you catch on to things quickly.”
“And you worried?”
“Yes, because you looked down on others who weren’t as capable as you are.”
Her words didn’t comfort me, even though I knew what she was trying to get through to me. I was in my early 50s when I came to terms with my sexual and physical assaults in childhood. By then I was reaching out to hurting men and trying to encourage and comfort them. And one day I heard Mom Brackett’s voice inside my head.
Finally, I understood. Learning to face my own childhood suffering has done great things for me. I’m far from perfect, but I know God has given me a caring, sympathetic heart. I can extend a loving hand or a warm heart because I know how it feels to hurt.
2 comments:
Thanks for sharing.
I pray that God will continue to give the Grace and strength to overcome always.
I too was gifted with better than average intelligence. I'm no genius for sure but I do catch on to things quickly thanks to an above average IQ. I admit there were times I was impatient with those who seemed slow to pick up on things. I would sometimes become humorously sarcastic with unnecessary comments that I'm sure hurt people's feelings even though we would all chuckle over it.
There is still a temptation to be that way and after coming to terms with my own past, shame and guilt you would think that would have permanently humbled my butt. As I read your piece on this topic I had to wonder what kind of a horse's butt I would have been if there had not been this thorn in my flesh. I shudder to think.
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