Coming Home with the Right Number of Balloons
Hello everyone:
I heard a great story Sunday morning. Our worship ministry assistant was telling us about how her hubby was supposed to bring home five balloons for their son’s 6-month birthday, but he only managed to make it home with one. Here’s how the story went:
The hubby was tasked with one thing for his son’s birthday party: go to the dollar store and get five helium-filled balloons. So he went off, confident in his ability to do the job.
When he got the balloons from the dollar store worker, however, the balloons were not tethered together and one immediately headed for the ceiling. The worker said something to the effect of “tough break, dude.” And the man walked away.
Hubby went on his way, minus one of the balloons, but with a good excuse. He walked outside, where the wind was blowing very hard and, you guessed it, he lost two more balloons.
He made his way to the car, struggling to keep his remaining balloons and then get them into the car. Wind vortexes being what they are, two more balloons evaded hubby’s grasp.
A few minutes later, he went into the house, with only one balloon in hand. His wife was quite annoyed with him, and really let him have it. It wasn’t until later that she realized that he might have had a very rough 20 minutes and asked him about it. He told the story as you have read it.
Here’s the point: You never know what someone else is going through. You don’t know what happened to their four other balloons, so don’t pre-judge someone. Listen to their story and then decide.
It happens with divorced folks all the time. People pre-judge without listening to their side of the story. There are always two sides but,. sometimes, the person who stays behind gets all the attention while the person who left is ignored and not listened to. Food for thought.
Best,
Dr. Sheri