Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Pros and Cons (08/14/14)
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TITLE: Bringing the Lost Children Home | Previous Challenge Entry
By Graham Insley
08/21/14 -
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Are those my eyes? Man, you look awful.
I think back to the email I received six days ago. It was a simple email, but one that changed my life forever. It read: "There is no easy way to say this, and I don't want to upset you, but I have been told that you are my biological father."
Wham! Crash!
Is my world toppling down or is my world, and family, expanding? Good question -- but one being raised over a woman who is forty two years old. That's a long while to not know that I had a daughter. Not only a daughter, but three grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
But hang on... how do I know if it is true? And do I even want to know if it is true or not? Will this bring joy into my life or start a landslide of consequences that will ruin my nice garden? Weighing up each side of the argument becomes a complex nightmare as logic parries emotion, risk wrestles with chance and excitement is countered by fear.
No wonder the questions that run around my head keep me awake night after night.
Later in the day one of the daughters I already know visits with her three kids. The youngest runs and hugs me. The middle one smiles, saunters up, leans her head on my shoulders and says some magic words, "Hello, granddad." The eldest grins and gives me a high five. Can the unknown relationship ever measure up to this? Or worse... can it in some way put this in danger?
If this is my daughter, a baby that has grown into a beautiful person with babies of her own, of course I want to know her. But how do I deal with the lost years? How do I get over the lies that have stolen this wonder from my life? I know it is important that I do not give into a smoldering anger, or even a minor resentment, towards those who have kept this secret from me. Wouldn't that be destructive to the relationship we can now form? But then again, can we ever form a close relationship with forty two years of blackness, of not knowing, between us?
Three cups of coffee later, as I try to work but fail, I realize that it isn't only my nights being invaded with uncertainty. Yet another issue springs up amongst the forest of issues -- abuse.
An anaconda of insecurity tightens its grip around my brain. Having been abused it has taken me years to come to peace with myself. Now I feel abused all over again. Will this new thing, rising from my past, come in as an angel on the wings of God and bring countless blessings? Or will it bring a battle with the demons of yesteryear?
Can I cope with this? Can I be the father that this woman needs? Does she even need a father at forty two? And yet she sought me out -- looking for answers. What are the pains that can come out of this? But what are the benefits?
Father, is this Your timing? Forty two years are lost, Lord. Can You protect me and my family from the hurts that can come out of this? Will there even be hurts? Or is this Your way of bringing new and wonderful blessings into my life?
Then I hear God's answer. "I know who My lost children are, and I've called all of them to come home."
In awe I reach for the phone.
"Family Medical Centre."
"I'd like to make an appointment for a DNA test."
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Thank you for sharing this piece of your life, it couldn't have been easy putting this down on paper, let alone feeling the full impact of the reality in which was presented.
Well written piece of writing.
God Bless~
I noticed a few punctuation things that would help the flow a bit. They're tiny things like a missing hyphen in forty-two and missing commas, especially after introductory phrases like in the following:Later in the day, one of the daughters I already know visits with her three kids.
Also in that line it could be slightly confusing. By adding the word me after visiting, it shows that she is visiting with the MC, not her kids. (I knew that regardless, but I could see some wondering.)
You did an outstanding job of nailing the topic. This is a perfect example of not using the topic words, yet still having the topic immersed throughout the entire story. When I realized this was a true story, it Jersey on my heartstrings even more. You also did a superb job of showing how Jesus knows and loves his children without being preachy or condescending. This is an awesome story, and I suspect you'll score quite high in each judging criteria.
The whole episiode is actually quite a good set up for a bigger story.In any case it was well written and it touched my heart. Well done.
I try to make myself write about it, but I just can't. I know it would be compelling stuff, and I know others could benefit from it, but I just can't. Your ability to open up about what happens in your life, good, bad and ugly gives me hope that one day I'll be able to do the same.
Thanks for sharing this week.
You captured me with your opening line and it was compelling all the way through.
Well done.
Yes, she still needs a father.
I hope sometime we will get to learn a little more about what happens next. Praying for wisdom for you.
Praying this is the beginning of a blessed adventure for everyone involved.
Perhaps an update in some future true life topic scenario!
This was so powerful.
God bless~