Today is Monday, December 20th, 2004; Karen's Korner #441
I mentioned several weeks ago about ordering "In Every Pew Sits a Broken Heart" by Ruth Graham, Billy Graham's daughter. Divorce, teen pregnancy, difficult choices--some sound and other not, are all a part of her personal family history.
This is how the book opens:
"I wound my way up my parents' steep, mountain driveway in western North Carolina, unsure if I would be welcomed or rejected. I was broken by the choices I had made. Stubborn and willful, I had followed my own path, and now I would have to face the consequences. I had caused pain for my children and loved ones. I feared I had embarassed my parents. It seemed I had wrecked my world. The shame was almost unbearable.
"I had driven sixteen hours from South Florida, stopping to pick up my youngest daughter at boarding school, and now I was tired and anxious. The familiarity of my childhood environment did little to subdue my fears. The February mountain air was crisp and clean. The bare trees--maple, poplar, and oak--lining the drive up to my parents' house afforded a view this tme of year, but I was too absorbed to notice.
"What would my life be like now? I had gone against everyone's advice. My family had warned me. They had tried to stop me. But I had not listened. I needed to do what was best for me, I had told them. And now my life was a shambles. I was a failure in my own eyes and certainly would be in the eyes of others when they leraned what "Billy Graham's daughter" had done. I feared I had humiliated those I held dearest. How would I be able to face them?
"Driving up the mountain, my fears multiplied. Adrenaline kept my foot on the gas. I felt my hands grip the streering wheel. My mind was spinning. I tried to remember my mothers' insistent tone from our phone conversation a few days earlier: 'Come home,' she had urged. I was desperate when I called her. I told her of my mistake and was trying to piece together a plan when she interjected with the voice of a loving, protective parent. But how would she and my father respond when they saw me? What would they say to me? Would they say, 'You've made your bed; now lie in it'? Would they condemn me. Would they reject me? Despise me? They had every right.
"As I rounded the last bend in the driveway, Daddy came into view. He was standing in the paved area where visitors usually park. Rolling the car to a stop, I took a deep breath and prepared to greet my father. I turned off the ignition, opened the car door, and stepped onto the driveway. Then I looked up -- Daddy was already at my side. Before I could say a word, he took me into his arms and said, 'Welcome home'."
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