This isn't exactly Halloween themed, but close. Sometimes it seems as if our kiddos are swapping one emotional costume for another, anything to hide what is really going on inside.
Street Angels / House Devils
I remember hearing the expression "Street Angel - House Devil" years ago. Maybe it was even said of me, I don't remember. But it surely applies to her. How is it that others can see her as thoughtful, kind, even joyful. Yet at home, especially to me, she is angry, ciolent, and actually sometimes abusive. Those outsiders don't deeply love her, and yet she delights them. Her family and I love her so so much and yet she treats us worse than dirt. It seems so backward. If she can't be good for everyone, in my heart I suppose I wold rather she was pleasant outside the house. Kind of like being on best behavior for company. But it is so very tiring to always be the brunt of her moods. And when she is so different outside, in public, no one understands what it is like to be me. Strengthen my camel's back, Lord, that her behavior may fall on it like straws, not thorns. That my back of resolve will not break as long as she needs my help. Strengthen me. Strengthen her, O Lord, so that she no longer feels the need to lash out, to fight love, to protect herself from letting go.
Excerpted from "The Caring Heart Speaks: Meditations for foster, kinship, and adoptive parents" by Gail Underwood Parker Artwork by Anna Parker David from the book cover.
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