“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

- Ephesians 4:32

    When our boy Jacob was six months old, I learned the greatest lesson of loving and forgiving that I guess I’ve ever learned. 

    I went into Jacob’s room where he was playing quietly with some toys in his crib. 

    As Paula gathered up some things to take with us, I reached into the crib and said, “Come to daddy.”  

    He looked up at me with a great big grin on his face and stretched out his arms toward me. 

    I picked him up and held him over my head as we usually played together.

    I didn’t realize that Paula had turned the ceiling fan back on.  And when I pulled Jacob up over my head, his head went right into those moving fan blades. 

    I heard a thud and it hit him so hard that it almost knocked him out of my hands.

    One of the blades caught him directly on the forehead and then grazed down his right eye before I could pull him back down.

    I looked into those pained little eyes and began to panic.  A huge (and I’m not exaggerating) knot immediately formed on his head.  A trickle of blood began to form from a cut on his forehead.  His eye began to swell.

    And I almost lost it. 

    Paula remained calm as I just held him close to my chest and kept telling him over and over, “Daddy’s sorry.  Daddy’s sorry.” 

    She called the pediatrician’s office and was told to take him immediately to the emergency room. 

    As I stood there with tears just flowing from my eyes like a water faucet, Paula gathered a few items and we loaded the truck.

    I gathered my composure, said a prayer and took the wheel, driving us to the emergency room.

    I was sick inside and couldn’t get to the emergency room fast enough.  We arrived after what seemed like days and the news was good.

    The doctor that saw us told us that he would be fine.  Didn’t even x-ray him.  Gave us some ointment for the cut and sent us on our way – told us not to worry a bit about it and to expect many more mishaps throughout our little boy’s lifetime.

    Here’s the reason that I tell you this story:  That night, Jacob wasn’t mean to me.  He didn’t hold what happened against me.  He didn’t remind me of it.  He didn’t harbor ill will or bitterness.  He didn’t hate me.

    Instead, he loved me even though I had hurt him, albeit unintentional.  We played together like we always did, he hugged me like he always did, and that event became something lost in the past.

    Here’s the thing:  sometimes people are going to hurt us.  Whether they mean to or not, it’s going to happen.   We’ll disappoint each other.  We’ll discourage each other. We’ll say things that we didn’t really mean.  We’ll hurt each other. 

    The question is:  will we love each other and forgive each other?

    “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”         – Ephesians 4:32