an updated repost from October 8, 2002
There was a man who possessed the wealth of the world and noone to whom to give it.
He had riches beyond imagination. Homes on both coasts and several abroad, as well. More cars, boats, planes, and toys than he could number.
Early one morning, while the man was reading his daily stack of the world's newspapers, he read a news item about horrific flooding in India. Thousands had died. Disease was rampant.
A sidebar to the story featured the plight of identical triplet boys who were ophaned by the flooding. Their parents, grandparents, and four older siblings had all perished in a mudslide that had decimated their poverty-stricken village. The infant boys had all been injured significantly by the raging flow of earth -- one had a broken back, the other a broken neck, and the third a crushed pelvis. It was unlikely that any of the boys would ever walk again, much less function well in their society. In fact, because of their plight, they would likely be sent to a regional orphanage that was notorious for its squalid conditions, where they'd likely waste away in neglect and die anonymously, unknown and unloved.
The rich man was moved with compassion. He beckoned his team of attorneys and immediatly began barking instructions. Within four hours, the three infant boys were transported to their region's finest hospital and specialist surgeons were flown in from across the world to repair their tiny, broken bodies. While these efforts were being undertaken, the man delegated all his responsibilities to underlings, boarded his fastest jet and flew to the boys so they wouldn't be alone in these frightening new surroundings.
Days turned to weeks. Weeks to months. The man never left their sides. He met every need. He talked with them in a language they had never before heard, and they responded in universally understood sounds of joy, love, and appreciation. On the day they were scheduled to be released, the man's chief emissary came through the hospital doors with adoption papers. The boys would become heirs of their benefactor. They would leave behind the only world they knew and become children of promise.
Now at home with their adoptive father, the three identicals grew into individuals. Each one eventually overcame the physical limitations thanks to their father's encouragement, as well as his provisions of the finest doctors, therapists, and rehabilitative services. They received the finest educations, and accompanied their father on life-forming adventures. They enjoyed nightly conversations with their father about the successes and failures of the day, as well as the hopes for tomorrow. On the cusp of adulthood, each child stood on the threshold of opportunity, equally loved and blessed by their adoptive parent.
One day, the boys gathered at the breakfast table and asked their dad why they looked so different than him. He explained to them the events of their infancy, and the actions undertaken to deliver them from a life of destitute misery. Each boy listened in rapt attention, as the words of the father gave an entirely different understanding of the relationship they shared.
The first son (oldest by 18 minutes) determined in his heart that he would live with a new-found determination to make his father proud. He would learn the father's business, he would work night and day, forsaking anything that would serve as an obstacle to accomplishing greatness.
The second son (older than the youngest by only 93 seconds), reacted adversely. He began sobbing over his loss. While profoundly grateful for the father's intercession, he realized he was nothing like that infant boy any longer. He determined in his heart that his true self was to be discovered in the disease-riddled peasant villages of India.
The third son listened to all his father had to tell them, and observed his brother's reactions. Then he simply walked up to his father, hugged him, and said "thank you for loving me."
Years passed. The boys became men, and their father grew old. One day, while the father sat in his office, peering out the window over the world while his business took place all around him, his youngest son entered into his presence.
"Dad, I have sad news to share with you," the son said.
"I've already heard," he said.
The oldest son, a vice president in the father's business died suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack, while in the middle of an meeting that could've been handled by others.
Silence filled the room. The son whispered, "dad, there's something else..."
"I already know."
The second son, they learned, had died the night before of exposure to the elements. He had been living in poverty for years, malnourished, nearly unclothed, and with no roof over his head.
"Come here, son." The father said. The youngest boy came to his father's chair and sat at his feet.
"My three boys. I loved you all equally. I gave to you all equally, with only your ability to receive limiting you. And now, you alone are left. My oldest son, upon hearing of my love for him, perceived that my love was given because of the potential that I saw in him. He worked tirelessly. He tried to be me, only to a greater degree. I never intended him to be me. I just wanted him to be the best 'him' he could be. And he's gone - never having experienced the fullness of the life available to him because he vainly tried to earn what had already been freely given to him."
A tear fell from the youngest son's eye, and the father wiped it from his cheek. "My second son, upon hearing of my love for him, perceived that my love was given because of the pitiful conditions of your infancy. He thought that I could only love him if he was pitiful. He gave his life needlessly, because he continually rejected my gifts, my presents, my provisions; for he felt that to receive them would be to become proud and unlovable. He never saw the foolish pride of living in rejection of my benevolence."
"You, my youngest son, are all who is left." The man looked out the window. "Upon hearing of my life for you, you perceived accurately that my love was not extended because of who you were, nor was it extended because of who you could potentially be. My love was extended because it, my greatest gift, was motive in and of itself. And you alone have lived in the reality of my unwavering love. You have filled me with joy, and you have disappointed me. You have accomplished much, and have much more yet to discover. Son, my love for you knows no boundaries, and all that I have is yours. Now, go, and live in the fullness of this blessing."
***
How is your relationship with the father? He doesn't love you because of the potential he saw in you, or because he wants you to stay in your pitiful condition. He loves you because He is good, and His love knows no bounds. Abide in that love, receive all the blessings of being the heir to His promises, a child of the King, inheritor to the Kingdom, and live in the fullness of that blessing.