Unconditional love

Why do you do that!?!

How many of us can answer that? 

I like Atticus's  words to Scout:

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.

And one way to step into that skin, to walk in his shoes, is to listen to what he has to say.   Really listen!  In fact, maybe listen twice as much as you talk, or even three times as much as you talk.

Sometimes the real problem is buried in among so many things that it is hard to find.  Kind of like those hidden picture books children love so much.  Given enough time people often find the answers themselves.

Nothing ever makes as much sense to me as something I discover for myself.  But it's hard to discover these things if I am busy defending myself, or trying to come with answers and excuses.  I need a safe place to think and maybe bounce my thoughts off of a loving person.

Unconditional love is one of the rarest things in our world.  I often find myself believing I have to be this, or that, or do this or that to be lovable even when it isn't true.

So when you want to help me maybe the first thing you can do is not give me advice, but just give me a safe place to talk.  Let me know you care enough to listen and if I do ask you for help then show your unconditional love by giving me nonjudgmental suggestions.

I  don't want to think I am some kind of cause, or stereotype.  I just need to know that I am me and that is okay.