Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: CHILDHOOD (03/09/17)
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TITLE: Strange Designs | Previous Challenge Entry
By Stanley McMahon
03/15/17 -
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Of course, the local authorities had to intervene. One by one the children were taken away from the family home, even though a more suitable dwelling had been found. Over the course of years, an agreement was reached that, if the mother bore more children, they would be taken too.
The eldest, Carmela, was kept at home as long as possible, ostensibly for the income received from her disability. Most of the others were relocated to an orphanage which also functioned as a school, not an uncommon arrangement at the time.
Alberto, the second in line, was already showing signs of becoming a difficult child to handle. Largely left to his own devices, he developed a worldview of unilateral survival, which could be summed up in two phrases: ‘I will do what I want’ and ‘I won’t do what you tell me to do.’
His rebellion took a further hold on him when, after failing his first year at school, he got the vision to study hard the next time round. He succeeded on his second attempt and was rewarded with a separation from his other siblings. He was sent to another orphanage/school while his parents tried to get life together. They ended up divorcing and went on to live with other partners, having brought eight children into the world. Alberto’s reaction to the move, as a six-year-old who had known only turmoil, was to close himself off and reject his new surroundings. He protected himself in the only way he knew how – by getting tough.
Six years of rejecting and feeling rejected later, a couple whom he had never met, stepped into his life. He didn’t speak their native language and he had never visited their home country. But he felt their love was genuine and what he was craving for. They took the risk of taking him into their home, re-training him, teaching him, investing hours of time walking through his dark places with him and finally after three years of collaboration with the local authorities, adopting him.
Sometimes our childhoods are not the ones we would write for ourselves, but God has a way of turning things around, giving us beauty for ashes and a crown instead of shame. This is more than a Cinderella story, it’s a story of love breaking through, the Gospel bursting in and lives being changed. Our childhoods do not need to determine our futures. Although they are the basis of our lives, they are not the Rock we build upon. We cling to the One who is called the Redeemer, the Creator of all things, the Good Father. It is He who directs our paths and deigns to walk with us, and calls us to walk with Him, whether our starting point is a garage or a grange.
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