How do you react in your darkest parenting moments? What do you do when your child is misbehaving so badly, fighting with her sibling so aggressively, or crying/kvetching so irrationally? What do you do when you're completely out of patience and your blood is just boiling?!
In one of those difficult moments, my friend grabbed her daughter to the side, and with every bit of anger she had, she counter-intuitively gave her daughter the strongest strongest hug ever!
She told her she loves her so much and doesn't want to have to punish her.
Her daughter was so relieved and comforted, and naturally behaved so good after that.
Instead of giving her daughter what she deserved, she wisely chose to give her what she knew she really needed! Because when someone hurts another, all it means is that they are hurting inside..
I was so touched by her story that I made that my new reaction. And then I realized, we really need to have the same reaction not only to our family, but to *every* Jew, because we are all really family, children of the same Father.
Perhaps that's the kind of "ahavas chinam" - free love, that will finally bring Moshiach!
To give our love even to the person who is the most unworthy of our love,
To be kind even to the person who is the most unworthy of our kindness,
To be patient even with the person who rubs us in all the wrong ways..
When Hashem sees us transforming our anger to compassion, our desire for revenge to expressions of irrational love,
He will do the same!
But just like that mother, HaShem shouldn't wait 'till we stop fighting to comfort us! He can decide to Redeem us even in our lowest, weakest moment! He should understand that when someone sins it's just because they're hurting from this Golus. He should be the first One to embrace us, and we will all return to Him with love!
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