I Don’t Want to Change! “But I don’t want to change,” Deborah repeated for what must have been the fifteenth time that afternoon. For years, Deborah had lived the life of a pauper. The open sky had been her shelter; the generosity of passerby’s her income. Now her father stood before her, offering her what he had offered her every day of her life—to give her a new life with him. “But, Deborah, why would you insist on clinging to your pauper ways when I offer you a way of escape?” Deborah could hear the pain in her father’s voice. Nevertheless, she stubbornly shook her head and replied, “I don’t want to change,” she repeated again. “I like the way things are.” “But just last week, you complained about how you went to bed hungry. And don’t you remember how miserable life can be in the rain?” Deborah paused as she contemplated these points. It was true. Life could get very miserable out on the streets. But give up the life she’d known? Oh, no, that she could never do! She would much rather go on complaining, even while ignoring the solution to her complaints. “I can’t change, Father,” Deborah argued. “I’m too set in my ways. It’s just a hopeless case. I tried a few months back to give up this life, remember? And the very first day I was back on the streets! I just can’t help it!” “Oh, but you could! I would help you! You could come live with me. I would give you other things to do besides aimlessly roaming the streets in this fashion. We could have so much fun together! Oh, do come!” Deborah’s father reached out his hand as if to invite her to join him in happiness. Deborah shook her head. “I just can’t change,” she repeated. “You can’t, or you won’t?” The question was made in a voice barely above a whisper. Deborah made no reply. She simply turned and walked down the street to continue her self-imposed miserable life. Deborah’s father forced back the tears as he watched his daughter leave. He slowly turned and walked away. He would come back again tomorrow. Maybe then his daughter would be ready to accept his gift of love. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
Posted on: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 19:00:55 +0000
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