Unravelling

On Sunday I witnessed a person unravelling.  I didn't know it at the time.  I admitt that I got caught up with the action instead of the cause behind it and may have over reacted a little. 
He came into the house and was hell bent on having it out with his offspring.  It was like something inside of him snapped, but it really had little to do with the current situation.

I tried to say "calm down", to which he responded "DONT TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!  I DON'T WANT TO CALM DOWN!"  Unravelling. Just like a roll of thread that falls to the ground, rolling along without a destination point. I could see this was going nowhere and fast. So I tried my best to keep my voice calm.  His ranting continued.  He was out of control, only he didnt know it.   He didnt see that with every word he carlessly spoke he was hurting his child.  He didn't see the wedge he was building.  Each word was like a hammer.  Knock. Knock. knock. Bruise. Bruise. Bruise.  He was like the very animal he claimed his offsprings had to be treated as for them to "move". Unravelling.

Before it was over, I was on the verge of tears.  As I closed the front door, the damn burst open and I cried long and hard. I was hurting for them both. The child that had to endure that verbal abuse and the father that couldnt see beyond his own ideas of right and justice. I hurt because this was not the first time and I imagine that it would not be the last time. I hurt beacuse this glimpse into the reality of people I thought I knew was heart breaking.  I cried some more.

As I write this, I am thinking of how many of us are trapped in the cycle.  You know, our parents did it to us and so we do it to our kids.  I wonder how many people are unravelling in our circle but no-one is able to see it because we brush it off as their personality trait.  "That's just how they are" we say.  What I witnessed on Sunday was not the problem but a manifestation of something else. That behaviour, erratic and out of control, was more than a father excercising discipline.  It was void of love. It was void of reason. It was the picture of a man unravelling. 

What is it that lurks in the minds of those we love that causes them to loose their temper, drink every day, harden their hearts, hide behind other things.  What causes them to pretend that all is well when inside they are dying to say "Help me please! I am hurting!  I don't know what to do!"   I don't know.  But this I do know with certainty, prayer works. It will take a power greater than the Demons of the past that haunt and terrorize.  It will take a light bright enough to dispell the darkness on the inside. It will  take a love that is unconditional to combat the hate and lies propagated by our common foe - the Devil.  It will take a name that is higher than any other name - Jesus. Jesus, we are calling upon your precious name so that we might be saved!  In Jesus' name Amen!