A PICTURE OF TRUE FORGIVENESS




STORIES FROM HIGH PLACES

A very handsome man in his mid-30s met a very beautiful lady and fell in love with her.  The lady hailed from a certain town in one of the regions that was most-discriminated against in their home country.  She was not only beautiful but also had a humble nature that attracted like a magnet.

The handsome man made up his mind that this was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.  Shortly after he finished law school in his home country, this handsome man got a travelling opportunity to the UK, with a well-paying job as a lawyer in one of the top reputable law firms.
Two years later, he came down from UK to perform the marriage rites so that he could quickly marry the beautiful young lady he had fallen in love with.  He also decided to take her along with him.  When he came down, he introduced the young lady to his family, but to his surprise, his mother was only one against his decision to marry her.  She said it was only over her dead body that her son would marry the lady.  She simply disliked the young lady’s tribe.

The handsome young man still went ahead to marry the young lady even without his mother’s approval.  Whenever there was a family get-together, his mother only showed love to all her other daughters-in-law.

A year later, his mother became bedridden for several months and was also diagnosed of a life-threatening ailment.  On her sick bed, she reached out to all her other daughters-in-law whom she loved dearly and accepted, but they, together with their husbands (her sons) gave her reasons and excuses why they could not visit. 

The woman also reached out to her other son in the UK and he also declined coming down to see her since she refused to approve of his marriage and also became cold towards him after he married the woman of his dreams.  He mentioned to his wife that he received a call from his mother regarding her health.

Out of sympathy, the young lady told her husband that she had also received a call from her family and for that reason she had to visit them because it had been a while since she last saw them.  She left London with her husband’s consent and when she arrived their home country, she went straight to her mother-in-law’s house.

There, she took care of the woman, stayed with her day and night, swept the house, cooked for her, took her to the hospital, she never left her side.  She took care of her for three months.
The woman’s health started to improve and she realized the kind of person the young lady was and she immediately regretted her initial attitude towards her daughter-in-law.  She woke up one morning, and calling out to the young lady, she apologize to her saying, “forgive me for everything I did to you.  I should have known better”.  The lady with tears of joy, embraced her mother-in-law.

The woman later called her son to narrate what had happened, and also apologise to him.  He then sought permission from his workplace, and travelled to see his mother. He was glad that his mother had come to realize his wife’s good personality.
A year later, the couple was blessed with a set of beautiful twin-girls.

LESSONS
1.      Discrimination in any form is not godly.  We should learn to treat people right irrespective of their ethnic, cultural, social, religious or economic backgrounds. 

2.      Human knowledge is limited to depict what the future holds, hence the need to live humbly.

3.      The person you despise today could be your anchor tomorrow.

4.      Forgiveness is a virtue and a womb, it releases embedded blessings. 

5.      Irrespective of the faults of parents or fatherly figures, we need not retaliate.  We need not make mistakes in the errors of the elderly.

6.      Time is the best counsellor, let time be your best ally.

7.      We might not always have the opportunity to right our wrongs so we need to live wisely. 

8.      No matter the depth at which someone offends us, we need to learn the act of true forgiveness.

BERNARD ELBERNARD NELSON-ESHUN

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