The Corrosion Effect

“I’ll be happy to stay with the class until the she arrives,” I offered.  My child’s elementary teacher was running late from an early morning meeting and hadn’t made it back to the classroom in time to greet the students.  No biggee.  As a parent, I am certainly capable of monitoring 20 young students while they unpack backpacks and prepare for the morning’s lessons.  It would only be a matter of minutes before the teacher arrived. This would be  easy – or so I thought.

I barely saw the last student in the door when one of my daughter’s classmates approached.  “I don’t have my backpack,” he said with beseeching eyes.  “I was with my mom last night and she told me to leave my backpack with her.  But I came to school with my dad.”  So much was said in those few sentences.  I found myself struggling to respond.  First, I had no idea this boy’s parents were separated – if, indeed, he was eluding to that.  Second, he had a problem I couldn’t readily fix.  Third, if his parents were separated in some way, this must be one of many repercussions due to his parent’s choice.  How can I amend that kind of dilemma?

As I was still formulating my reply, the teacher walked in and took command of the classroom.  I passed the boy’s situation into her hands.  When I had extended all the help she and the class needed, I went on my way.  But the boy never left my mind.

This child’s mother and father may never comprehend the look of distress I saw on their son’s face today.  And, with the problems they most likely have on their plate, they would consider the missing backpack a small thing by comparison.  It wasn’t a small thing to him.  He is struggling to find his way through the aftermath of a broken family; and he trusted and obeyed what he was told – “Leave your backpack here.”  How could he have known at his young age that the complications of the situation would betray him.  Now he is handicapped for the school day, each reference to the missing materials a perpetual reminder of his situation at home.

This reminded me of something my husband once said.  Being in the computer industry, he once told me that each item on my computer leaves a digital trail.  Even after a document or program is deleted, there is still evidence of it’s existence for someone who knows where to look.  Often times, the entire file still exists but is invisible to the user.  This residual trail of fragments can also interfere with other programs, causing unforeseen challenges and seemingly unrelated problems – all stemming from one choice, the press of a single button.

Aren’t all our choices like that?  This boys backpack predicament is evidence of the trail left by the deleted stability in his family, the effects being passed from one area of his life to another.  Like an acid corroding away at whatever it touches, it does not discriminate between the deserving and the undeserving in it’s path.  It simply does what it does; it destroys.  Isn’t that characteristic of the effects of our bad choices, whether big or small?

I have experienced this in my own life.  And, I’ve no doubt caused it in others.  It makes me thing: What trail of destruction have I left in the lives  of those around me?  What damaging effects are still having their way long after they were set in motion, though invisible to my eye?  What consequences have I written off as insignificant that have made an indelible mark on the life and heart someone else?

Oh Lord, save those around me from the devastation of my wrong doing.  Make me aware of the consequences of my actions.  And keep their effects to a minimum.  I am bound to make bad choices.  It’s a part of life.  But you are not bound by my limitations and can redeem the worst of anything.  Thank you for being big enough to overcome the results t of my inadequacies.  In addition, help me to be sensitive to the problems others face at the hand of someone else.  Let me be an instrument of healing for those you place in my path.  Teach me and use me.  Most of all, God, be a comfort to this boy.  Let him know You will never abandon, misguide, or betray him.  We can fully trust in You.  Amen