Imagine you are at a resort at a beautiful beach. You have a three-day weekend to enjoy the sun, the cooler weather and just be. You are watching your two sweet girls playing in the Lazy River. The cares you left at home are less stressful. No worries flood your mind as you watch your girls having fun. You don’t get to do this often and you enjoy treating your family to some much needed down time.
But then it happens…
The word “degenerate” was the first kind word that popped into my head.
- The dictionary defines it as “to fall below a normal or desirable level in physical, mental, or moral qualities; deteriorate”.
- I liked this one too, “to diminish in quality, especially from a former state of coherence, balance, integrity, etc.”
- Or this one, “a person or thing that reverts to an earlier stage of culture, development, or evolution.”
I’m not sure why I kept reading down the list of meanings for this word but then I saw it. The last one and I’m not sure why I was surprised it was there.
The final meaning is “a sexual deviate”.
In contrast, I looked up the word “innocence”. The dictionary defines it as “freedom from sin or moral wrong.”
Remember the serenity that once existed as you relaxed next to the Lazy River…
The girls scurried over to their mom to tell her about a man. A man who was sitting in a tube floating in the Lazy River with his “business” out.
Before I grabbed my laptop to put this together, my mind was racing with anger. I wanted to put that anger on paper so you, too, could feel my pain and disgust. But a funny thing happened as I walked the 10 steps to my recliner, sat down and opened my computer. I felt God take away the anger. It’s not about me and what I want. Not that I can do anything from where I am but you know what I mean. I want…to do something. I want it to stop. I want to be mad. I want to be furious and I am that it happened. All children are precious and this creep is preying on them everyday. But God took away my anger and replaced it with pity.
As I write this I am still feeling what that feels like. I can feel Him removing the emotions He doesn’t want me to have and replacing them with emotions He wants me to have. I feel as sense of relief, a sense of calm, a sense of peace. I tell people about this kind of love all the time but I have never been able to write about it as it is happening.
I am overwhelmed.
I don’t feel the rage that would have allowed me to choke him had he been in front of me at the time. God has allowed me to see a small glimpse of this degenerate the way He does. Yes, I am still mad that it happened, but the emotional stress that anger causes is gone. I wish I had better words to share this with you. I sit here just shaking my head as I try to write.
All I feel now is pity…
which is a synonym for GRACE.
Stay safe and God bless
The World According To Neema 