By David Coy
Sunrise
Ancient writings tell the story of a youth, a boy of approximately 17 years of age who was sold into slavery by his brothers because of jealousy. His brothers were originally intent on murdering him, but one of the brothers persuaded the rest to rather sell him to bandits and tell their father that he was killed by a wild animal. To understand how this youth might have felt, we will need to imagine ourselves in his place. How he felt when his brothers took him and placed him in a dry cistern and let him down in it. Perhaps the youth thought it was a practical joke or that they were trying to scare him. After he heard their footsteps leave, maybe he began to believe they were serious or maybe, even when the bandits retrieved him from the cistern and began their journey with him down the road, he looked anxiously expecting to see his brothers any minute say, “How do you like the joke?” That did not happen. He was taken and sold again and became a servant of a government household. Then perhaps he thought, “My father will soon come and rescue me from this nightmare.” That did not happen.
The years progress along, and he must endure not only a life of slavery, but imprisonment after being falsely accused of wrongdoing. Would he have developed ill feelings toward his brothers and his father? Would he develop feelings of despair that he would never see his family or his home again? Maybe he determined within himself, “If I am to be a servant then I will be the very best servant I can be.” After approximately 13 years he sees his brothers again. By this time the youth was elevated to a position of esteem and importance. Life can require that we make the best of less than ideal circumstances and learn to rebuild our life with the very best of our ability. We hope to see you in grief support group at one of our locations.
