Life through the eyes of emery

Acceptance

True love is about acceptance - accepting the other person’s weaknesses, bad habits, attitude & character. There’s nothing more that people long for than acceptance. Being in a new work environment, going to an unfamiliar country, starting a new school – the first thing we all fear, is not being accepted.

I've learnt more about acceptance in the past weeks than I’ve ever had. Last week, I went on a road trip for the usual ‘Ceng Beng’ festival with my parents. My parents truly teach me the meaning of acceptance. They have been together since high school and my mum always jokes that she can read my dad so well that before he does or says anything, she already knows what he’s up to. It’s amazing how they are so different and yet share a very loving relationship – both aware of each other’s differences and annoying habits, but like my mum would say “Everyone’s different”. My dad is ever so patient with my mum and always supports & accepts her as she is.

Another example that I’ve seen time and again is to do with rebellious children. Why are they rebellious? It’s because of the lack of acceptance from their parents. Being the typical Asian parents, it is not unfamiliar to hear things like “Why can’t you be more like your brother/sister/cousin?”. In many cases, when the child realizes that he/she can never meet up to that ‘expectation’ set by his/her parents, he/she becomes rebellious. It truly just takes a simple step – to accept the child and realize the uniqueness of each individual. Because of this comparison, most parents are blinded by their own children’s natural talents, just cause they are too busy comparing with someone else’s sons or daughters. And how many doctors, lawyers and accountants do we need anyway?

I’ve also just returned from visiting my church’s drop-in center where druggies and homeless people are welcomed to drop in for free food, medical check-ups etc. We went around the streets to distribute food to them & it was indeed an eye-opening experience – we don’t have to go to other 3rd world countries to experience this, when it is actually just a 20 minutes drive away – there are tons of people in need of help and basic necessities! Again, just accepting them as they are, and not discriminating means a lot to them. After all, God created us all equal – it’s just the circumstances that differ and not everyone is so fortunate, which doesn’t give us the right to discriminate.

Being accepted allows the other person to freely be themselves without being judged. It is difficult to do, simply because we are not perfect. Our first instinct is to judge, to criticize & to sound. The perfect example is God’s love, no matter how unworthy we are, how much sin we’ve committed, how evil we are, whether we live in the streets, we are the outcast of society or we are from a broken home, it does not matter. He loves us just the same. That’s why Easter means so much to me, because it reminds me of the power of His resurrection, of the hope that He brings to the world, by sacrificing His life.

posted by emeryz @ 2:59 AM