A true life story. Fictitious names assigned for obvious reasons.
Ernie was an officer in the U. S. Army, stationed at a large base in the U. S. Elise was content to forego an outside career; she felt that her calling was to stay at home and raise their two children. Apart from the usual minor disagreements, theirs was a happy marriage.
Then Ernie was transferred to Japan. It was at a time when families were not free to accompany the parent. But this family kept in close touch by mail. It was always a high spot in the week when a letter arrived from Daddy. The children would sit on the floor near Mother while she read the letter to them. The news became the subject of discussion for the rest of the day. It seemed that Daddy was not far away.
So it was a cause of alarm when a week passed without a letter. Elise had a vivid imagination. She pictured Ernie ill, or in an accident, or off on some dangerous, secret mission. Two weeks passed, and no letter. If there had been an accident or illness, she would have been notified by now. Three weeks and still no mail. Four. Finally a letter arrived, and the blow fell. Elise’s recent fears had become reality. It was incredible. What had she done to deserve this? She was devastated, too crushed to share it with the children.
Finally one of the kids asked, “Mommy, what’s wrong? Has something happened to Daddy? What did he say in the letter?”
It was torture to tell them that their father had fallen in love with another woman. She saw the look of shock on their faces. They obviously couldn’t take it all in at the time. But they did realize that their Daddy wouldn’t be coming back to them any more. Finally, one of them said, “Mommy, can I ask you something? Just because Daddy doesn’t love us any more, does that mean we can’t love him?”
Elise was struck by the question. It reminded her of Psalm 8:2: “Out of the mouth of babes and infants You have ordained strength.” In her desolation and sorrow, the idea had never occurred to her. After wrestling with the question, she replied, “ No, we’re allowed to love him.” But there was a lump in her throat when she said it. Her little son said, “Well, will you write him and ask him to please keep writing to us because we still want to love him?” This meant that letters would perhaps still come from him.
As they did, the details of his unfaithfulness unfolded. He had fallen in love with his 15-year-old servant girl. Subsequently, he had several children from that marriage. Elise still had a hard time in believing what had happened. But she was still not shockproof. Another outrage was in the wings.
It was a letter from Ernie. “Dear Elise: I am sorry to be writing like this to you, but I have been diagnosed with cancer, and do not have long to live. I have forfeited my pension, and we are living on a shoestring. After I die, would you be willing to send some money to help my family?”
After reading it, Elise said to herself, “Well, now I’ve heard everything.” She couldn’t believe his gall and impenitence. Not a word of apology. No confession or request for forgiveness. It was incomprehensible.
But on more sober reflection, she remembered what her son had asked, “Mommy, just because Daddy doesn’t love us any more, does that mean we can’t love him?” So she wrote back and explained that although she would not be able to send money, there was something she would do. She wrote, “I’ll tell you what I’ll do. Why don’t you arrange to have them come to America after you’ve passed away? They can stay in this home and I’ll teach them how to be self-supporting.”
And that’s what happened. Elise later explained, “I had two choices. I could look back over the past and curse that man for what he did to me, or I could thank God for giving me the privilege of shining His light in a very dark tunnel in this world.”
No doubt, shining His light in a very dark tunnel included sharing the gospel with this adopted family so that they too could become lights for the Lord.
Archbishop Temple was right when he said, “To return evil for good is devilish. To return good for good is human. To return good for evil is divine.”