Calla looked at the new digs, and she smiled. Finally, a new lease on life was possible, having graduated from high school and of an age where she could make her own decisions.
It had not been easy, for often we become inured to the insults and ugly looks, especially when they are all that we have ever known. Her parents were like cannibals, people-eaters, seemingly only content when causing pain to others. Each little dig had taken a part of Calla’s self-esteem, but some inner strength helped her to hold on to enough of herself to find the courage to leave that dysfunctional environment.
Calla needed to find a silver lining to the verbal abuse, some way that the awfulness of her life could be used to make a positive difference in other people’s lives. But, each time she tried to confront her past, it was as though her father was present in her television telling her that she would never be anything or amount to anything. The pain would return so intense that she could hardly breathe.
But, in this new place where people worship God, they live in the belief that love is kind, patient, doesn’t envy, doesn’t boast of being better than others, isn’t proud or arrogant or self-centered or easily angered, and keeps no record of wrongs. She has been able to let go of the pain and find rest.
She has learned a better way to live, loving people and sharing her heart with them, never putting them down, but lifting them up. That is the silver lining: having suffered, she knows how to comfort and treat others.
Lately, when she thought of her father’s meanness, the screen flickered and he was gone! She knows now that real love never fails us, for we are protected and we can open our hearts and trust, because God is love. .
Written for the Three Things Challenge #109 from Paula Light of Light Motifs II: lease, cannibal, and silver. Also, from the June Writing Prompts from Putting My Feet in the Dirt: the screen flickered and he was gone. Scriptural reference is First Corinthians 13:4-8.
Help from Heaven 