The Earring

Book 6 Part 6

"Zach," she thought. She closed the binder. "Maybe what Mama wrote in the journal is all I need to know," she said aloud. "I wonder if I ought to shred this. It might hurt Zach." She shook her head and put it back. "Mama suspected she was dying. She could have destroyed it. Maybe he needs to read it," Faith thought.

She pulled out a second binder. It had a dust film, but it was less thick.

"She's looked at this one more recently," Faith thought. "Probably not long before her death."

The first entry read, "It is 3AM, and I cannot sleep. My mind keeps going in circles trying to make sense of the senseless. David admitted the unthinkable today."

"Daddy," Faith thought. "I wonder if this is the manuscript Mama sent to a publisher? It's in the format of a journal, though. I doubt it."

She wasn't ready to read the raw unedited pain of her father's infidelity. The entries in the journals Mama had left her had been hard enough to read. Faith slipped the binder back in and removed a third. She blew dust bunnies off of the top. The first page was a plastic sleeve. Inside was an article from the Northwest Baptist Paper with the story about David's fall. As Faith read, her heart ached for her parents.

The second plastic sleeve held a letter to the editor of the Northwest paper. It was from Syd. It read:

All of you have read of my husband's affair. I have always told David that if he committed adultery I would take a set of pruning shears to the appropriate part of the anatomy and then leave him to pick up the pieces of his life alone. Now that this has happened, I have discovered that God has a much better set of pruning shears than I. God uses his shears to remove the rot and decay that entombs the heart and soul and replace a damaged and ruined spirit with a broken and contrite heart.

I know that this revelation left many of you, as it did me, in a state of shock. The human response is judgment. God has already pronounced judgment, and David will continue to reap the consequences of his actions for years to come. You might respond that what David did was despicable, and he deserves your contempt. You are right on one count. What he did is despicable, and you are right to judge the sin. However, to presume to judge the condition of the human heart is to usurp God's place. We do not need your judgment.

I have been through several of these types of incidents in the Christian community. I have heard spouses condemned for forgiving their partners too readily. I have heard people say a woman is a fool for taking back a reprobate who made the mistake of allowing himself to be governed by the wrong head. To call forgiveness foolishness is to call God a fool. God has been gracious enough in this situation to allow me the gift of mercy. Do not judge me for that; support me.

What David and I need now is for you to be channels of God's redemptive love. Love us in whatever way God leads, but reach out in love not in pity or condemnation. I thank God that he is going to use these circumstances that satan meant for evil to teach us and grow us more in His likeness.

Sydney Lander

Faith ran her hand over the page.

"How could you be so brave, Mama?" she thought. "I don't think I would have been able to hold my head up, much less defend my husband and ask people for support."

The words, "My Spirit I leave with you," sounded in Faith's mind. She smiled. "He carried you, didn't He, Mama?" She was looking heavenward as she formed the words.

The rest of the binder was filled with cards and letters from people who responded to Syd's letter to the editor. Faith read through them. As she read, tears ran down her face. When she finished, she wiped her eyes and blew her nose.