What Do You Do?

My question to her was, "How did you forgive him?" She had just told me the story of her husband's affair with one of her good friends.

A devout Catholic, she answered, "I went into the chapel, heartbroken. I asked God to remove my hurt and resentment and make it possible for me to forgive them." When at long last she arose and walked out of the church, she was free.

She is still married to her husband and maintains a friendship with the unfaithful friend.

As I think of the emotional storm my friend and her marriage survived, I am reminded of another story about Judge Harold Medina, who presided over the communist trials during the McCarthy era. One day the courtroom erupted and several angry defendants charged the bench.

"In all that excitement, I felt just as calm as I do now when I speak to you; I did not raise my voice over the tone which you hear me use now. . . . I tell you . . . that my unguided will alone and such self-control as I possess were unequal to this test. If ever a man felt the presence of Someone beside him, strengthening his will and giving him aid and comfort, it was I on that day."

These two stories I've just related are remarkably different. Or are they?

You write it:  When something in your life erupts and threatens what you hold dear, what do you do?