Compassion in Unexpected Places

 My job puts me in all types of places to meet all types of people.  Last month, I went to jail to interview father on my caseload.  He was in jail for having sex with his girlfriend's 12-year-old sister.  Needless to say, I did not have the greatest impression of this man going into the interview.  However, the court ordered me to look into arranging for the father to have phone contact with his children.  The day before, I had met with the foster parents and discussed the logistics of that and they agreed for me to give him their number.  When I interviewed one of the little girls, she was showing me drawings that she made for her mom and her dad.  Knowing I was going to see her dad the next day, I asked her if she would like me to bring one of the drawings to her dad.  She carefully examined her little 4-year-old drawings and selected the drawing with three little hearts on it.  Since the drawing from his child was just the three small hearts that took up about one third of the page, I wrote the foster parents' phone number on the bottom with instructions (such as don't call collect).

After we finished with the investigative portion of the interview, he expressed frustration that he did not know how his children were doing and was sad that he could not visit with them.   I then presented him with the drawing from his daughter with the contact information.  At this point, he broke down and started crying ... and I felt true compassion and charity for him.  When I think about things that happen to children, I often feel angry - towards the world that these things could happen to children, towards the perpetrator, towards people that could have protected the children but failed to do so.  However, my feelings towards that man as he cried at the sight of his daughter's simple drawing served as a humble reminder that we really are all God's children, and He does know and love EVERY single one of us... even those that do bad things to innocent people.  We do not always know why people make awful decisions or hurt other people... and even if we did, that does not mean that we should excuse their bad behavior and let them roam free to harm more people.  But I am grateful for an atoning Savior, a just and merciful God, who fully understands each one of us.  If I - who am not infinitely loving - could feel that way about a statutory rapist in that moment... how does Heavenly Father feel about me, even when I make dumb decisions?