God Beneath My Wings!
Spirit
Soul
Body
Forgive That Man?!
SYNOPSIS
A Christian young man/woman faces the difficult challenge of forgiving his/her parents in light of the abuse and neglect he/she suffered while growing up. In particular he/she blames his/her father for the painful childhood memories he/she has. However, the Holy Spirit ever by the Christian side, ministers to him/her while he vents his/her frustrations.
CAST
Angry Christian young man/woman. Successful, sophisticated and articlate.
Voice of the Holy Spirit is heard as the scripture verses are read.
ACT ONE
Verse One
You have got to be kidding!
You must really be joking!
Let bygones be bygones? Forgive that man?
I have tried my utmost to forget,
That day when my so-called father left,
His wife and his child without a backward glance.
Verse Two
Mother was extraordinarily intelligent, well shaped and pretty;
As for me, I was artistic, talented, and witty;
So what was really going through this man’s deluded mind?
He ought to have been incarcerated promptly!
Sentenced to solitary confinement indefinitely!
As a Christian I ought to forgive him BUT his was an unpardonable crime!
Matthew 6:15 (AMP) But if you do not forgive others their trespasses (their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment), neither will your father forgive you your trespasses.
Matthew 18:21,22 (AMP) Then Peter came up to Him and said, Lord, how many times may my borther sin against me and I forgive him and let it go? (As many as) up to seven times?
Jesus answered him, I tell you, not up to seven times, but seventy times seven.
Verse Three
Seventy times seven? Hymph! Mother worked tirelessly to the bone,
So that her dear husband, that man, could be enrolled,
In Anthropological Research, at the most prestigious university.
After all the competent bread winner,
Was obligated to secure his household’s future,
And no one suspected that he would just abandon his devoted family.
Verse Four
No sooner had that man graduated;
He ‘moved on up’ to dwell among the more sophisticated;
His insolence was apparent as he provided us no explanation.
Deep down I sensed that he had no intention to return;
At least he could have sent a post card or telephoned;
He completely deserted us to suffer sheer humiliation .
Father of mercy, didn’t you hear me when as a child I prayed?
Didn’t you see how angry I was and afraid?
I guess you were too busy and couldn’t really be bothered!
Hebrews 4:15 (AMP) For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to understand and to sympathize and have shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.
Hebrew 13:5 (AMP) Let your charater or moral dispostion be free from love of money (including greed, avarice, lust and craving earthly possessions) and be satisfied with your present (circumstances and with what you have) for He (God) Himself has siad, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up, nor leave you without support. (I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let you down (relax my hold on you) (assuredly not!)
ACT TWO
Verse Five
Content? Satisfied? Many nights I was sent to bed without supper,
Not even with a piece of dry bread and butter,
Mommy claimed that it was because I had been quite naughty.
Though it was blatantly and undeniably clear,
That the cupboards were stark empty and bare,
Yet she was able to trump up false charges against me.
Verse Six
I often resembled a clown,
In my polyester and cotton hand-me-downs,
That were either ill fitted and out of style.
I was constantly mocked and jeered,
And sorely scored by my peers,
But was smart enough not to let them see me cry.
Psalm 30:5 (AMP) For His anger is but a moment, but His favour is for a lifetime, weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning.
Verse Seven
It was a looong night of severe beating and whipping,
Eventually my skin began toughening,
Thanks to mom’s leather shoes, wooden brooms, and metal pans.
My heart began hardening,
To the scolding and cursing,
Cursed to be the splitting image of that man.
Genises 50:20 (AMP) ….you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good…
Verse Eight
Was good really to be expected?
When over time I was neglected;
As my mother ceased to show interest or care.
The sparkle in her eyes froze over,
Her heart slowly turned to cold silver,
Pining after that man who was not there
Psalm 27:10 (AMP) Although my father and my mother have forsaken me, yet the Lord will take me up (adopt me as His child).
Adopted Father didn’t you hear me when as a child I prayed?
Didn’t you see how angry I was and afraid?
I guess you were too busy and couldn’t really be bothered!
Hebrews 4:15 (AMP) For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to understand and to sympathize and have shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.
ACT THREE
Verse Nine
Our house rapidly grew to fame,
And really should have been named,
The Twenty-Four-Seven-Boulevard-Drunk-Nest.
Some patrons came and quickly went,
While others ate and drank until spent,
And wherever they could, they laid their heads to rest.
Proverbs 20:1 (AMP) Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging (a riotous bawler), and whoever is deceived thereby (errs or reels) is not wise.
Romans 6:23 (KJV) The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Verse Ten
Sad but certainly true! Soon after I escaped from home;
I acquired skills to fend for my own;
Hoodlums became my dearest and closest companions.
The atrocities that I had witnessed;
The wickedness that I had committed;
Every day I thank God for saving my soul from sin's corruption.
Verse Eleven
Years later I returned to see mother,
Suffering from the sclerosis of the liver;
We all knew that she was dying from a heart full of sorrow.
It was obvious to all and sundry,
Why she drank incessantly;
Each day she hoped that, that man would have returned ...tomorrow.
Proverbs 13:12 (AMP) Hope delayed makes the heart sick: longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
Verse Twelve
Whenever I look in the mirror I see,
That man staring back tauntingly;
I am his younger, but more intelligent, twin.
A childhood of painful memories,
Still haunt my dreams and mock me;
Why can't I simply exonerate that man and pardon him?!
Philippians 3:13 (KJV) ….forgetting those things which are behind, reaching forward to those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Father God, didn’t you hear me when as a child I prayed?
Didn’t you see how angry I was and afraid?
I guess you were too busy and couldn’t really be bothered!
Hebrews 4:15 (AMP) For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to understand and to sympathize and have shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.
ACT FOUR
Ephesians 6:2,3 (AMP) The commandment honour your father and mother is the first one with a promise attached. So that things will go well for you and you will live for a long time in the land.
Verse Thirteen
You are asking of me now that, that man is sick and dying,
To scurry to His bedside sympathizing?
Am I expected to provide for his care simply because he is my father?
Those two characters though had some deep seated issues and problems;
Where they ever really my biological parents?
Over the years I've often paused to wonder and ponder.
Heavenly Father didn’t you hear me when as a child I prayed?
Didn’t you see how angry I was and afraid?
I guess you were too busy and couldn’t really be bothered!
Hebrews 4:15 (AMP) For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to understand and to sympathize and have shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.
Matthew 2:16 (KJV) Then Herod …….slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coast thereof, from two years old and under.….
Verse Fourteen
Though not implicitly stated in the biblical account,
There must have been few boys your age in your home town;
But I have never considered that You could have been lonely;
No one thought that I would be able to achieve any worthy accomplishment,
As I reflect you too were despsied and rejected of men,
For you grew up in Nazereth in the village of Gallilee.
Verse Fifteen
At least you had a stepfather,
Joseph, the well known carpenter;
But have you ever been forsaken? Do You truly appreciate my quandary?
Matthew 27:46 (KJV) And about the ninth hour.
Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli Eli, lamasabachthani?
that is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
On the cross You were forsaken; I ought to have remembered that!
In my anger, despite my intelligence, I overlooked this fact;
Me, a well established attorney of the law, JD
Heavenly Father you did hear me as a child when I prayed!
You did understand how angry I was and afraid!
You were never too busy to be bothered
Ephesians 4:32 (AMP) Be kind, compassionate, and forgiving to each other, in the same way God forgave you in Christ.
Verse Sixteen
I am exhausted and have run out of excuses and complaints,
Lest like mom I die embittered and estranged,
Or worse yet have my children relive my childhood with me as their father/mother
And who am I to stand in judgment and condemnation?
When you have shown me such mercy and pardoned my transgressions;
I have no other recourse but to do the same and forgive my father!
The End
Writiten by Vinette Walker
June, 2015
