A lot of people wrongly believe that as long as their intention was meant for good, everything should be fine.

Nearly twenty-two years ago, I too, had a good intention… that nearly caused the death of my first-born child. I had given birth to our son just days before, and was preparing to leave the hospital. As I knew little to none about caring for babies, I swaddled our son in a blanket, the same way he was brought to me by the nurses. I assumed this meant that babies didn’t handle temperatures the same way adults do.

As I waited in the hospital lobby in a wheelchair holding our swaddled son, my husband went to get the car from the parking lot. Normally, a baby in a blanket is no big deal, but we lived in Florida, and it was a humid day.

Within a few minutes, our baby began to fuss. I naively thought maybe he was just hungry, so I gave him a bottle. When he rejected it, and the fretting didn’t stop, I thought maybe he had a wet diaper. I stuck my hand in the tightly wrapped blanket, and sure enough, not only did his diaper feel damp, but so did his whole body! So young and naïve was I that I still didn’t get it. I assumed his diaper had simply leaked! Then, after a few more minutes of fussing, our baby quieted and fell asleep.

Thankfully, a concerned woman saw what was happening, and approached me, asking why I had the baby bundled so. I explained my reason, and she smiled sweetly, and said, “Maybe it was just cold from the air-conditioning on that floor, but here it seems to be quite warm, don’t you think? You wouldn’t want him to over-heat, would you?”

Just then it hit me how foolish I had been! What seemed like the right thing, was most certainly not! Our baby could have gotten heat-stroke, or worse!

Of course, I immediately, removed his blanket, thanked the woman, and watched as our little one perked up, happily cooing now that he was more comfortable.

In life, many of us do similar. We sometimes think all we do and say is good, right and correct, yet we are unaware of how something we have said or did may be hurtful.

Think about how often you hear someone say, “I never MEANT to hurt you!”

No, most of the time we don’t MEAN to hurt others, but, sadly, we sometimes do.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, if there are any roadblocks in the way that are hindering me from seeing how I have unwittingly hurt someone, please remove these beams from my eyes so that I may better see the full picture, and not just MY version of it. Remove from me any excessive pride so that I can humbly see how my choices may have negatively affected someone else, and issue me forgiveness, God, because You alone are all-perfect. Lastly, give me strength God, so that I can also attempt to seek forgiveness and make peace with those I have knowingly or unknowingly hurt most. This I ask in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Contributed by Melanie Schurr editor@melanieschurr.com (Copyright (c)2005 Melanie Schurr) Melanie Schurr is author of “Ecstatic Living: A Christian marriage manual and Life-guide”, “Son Salutations” and “Daily Contemplations”, a collection of read-one-a-day modern inspirations. For more information, visit http://www.melanieschurr.com