What is of most importance...
Illustration
What is of most importance in life? I once heard of an African tribe which lives only in the present. They have no words in their language for either past or future. Neither have meaning to them. I at times think both past and future have too much significance for us. We put ourselves through agony in the present over things which happened in the past. We ignore the needs of the present for things we want to happen in the future.
Though past and future are important and worthy of concern, I begin to feel that we need, as a corrective, to learn to live better in the present. Friends of ours have a Down Syndrome child. She is a lovely and energetic toddler, who manages to keep up in every way with her older sisters. Her parents decided shortly after she was born that she would not be treated differently from any other child. So she has gone everywhere with them, and had every experience offered to the other children. Her father says that he is amazed when other parents of Down's children they know waste so much of their lives and emotional energy on bitter questioning and regrets. He says, "We don't know why God gave us Annie as she is, or what her future will be. We only know that we have her to love now, and that is all we need to know."
--Curley
Though past and future are important and worthy of concern, I begin to feel that we need, as a corrective, to learn to live better in the present. Friends of ours have a Down Syndrome child. She is a lovely and energetic toddler, who manages to keep up in every way with her older sisters. Her parents decided shortly after she was born that she would not be treated differently from any other child. So she has gone everywhere with them, and had every experience offered to the other children. Her father says that he is amazed when other parents of Down's children they know waste so much of their lives and emotional energy on bitter questioning and regrets. He says, "We don't know why God gave us Annie as she is, or what her future will be. We only know that we have her to love now, and that is all we need to know."
--Curley
