Image by Rudi Arlt from Pixabay
“So, then, how do you stay so calm when the people who really mean bad to your folks come around – how are you so calm all the time?”
This was eight-year-old Edwina Ludlow, on her quest to become a sweet little girl even though her warrior spirit had been roused up by her parents and non-Ludlow grandparents' neglect and her experiences in foster care. She was talking with her cousin Col. H.F. Lee, semi-retired from the U.S. Army's Special Forces and Judge Advocate General. The two cousins were picking the old plum tree that at last had ripened up its fruits.
“Well, there's a lot that goes into that, Edwina,” the colonel said gently. “Temperamentally, I have the capacity to project calm – if I stay calm, you'll stay calm. I've been in command of other people since I was very young, and then I was raised by my grandparents who were in command of their family, so, I've gotten a lot of looking and practice.”
“OK, so, I'm eight, so that's not going to be me, because I have a hard enough time trying to control myself in a world like this,” Edwina said.
“But that's the point, Edwina. You actually might make a wonderful commander in some civilian field someday, because the hardest battle is getting in control of yourself. After that, everything else is easy!”
“Really – you mean I'm backing into this whole thing?”
“Let's just say that if you do the right thing, you're going to be who you are meant to be, Edwina.”
“OK, but I still don't know what to do when the stupid people show up.”
“Ah yes, greeting the unwelcome,” Col. Lee said.
“I really am not into all that, because if you let me do it they will know they better not come bother me or any of mine – I don't play about mine,” Edwina said.
“Well, that's one option,” Col. Lee said. “I've used it plenty of times. You pay a high price for that, though.”
Edwina considered this.
“Yeah, I guess so because sometimes Papa is just remembering stuff and gets sad,” she said. “He doesn't know we know, but his voice is real big and sometimes he doesn't get far enough away from the house while he is praying and we can hear him crying. He lost a lot of people in the Army.”
“I know,” Col. Lee said. “Defending the country and its interests has a high price – but that route is only one option. Another option: simply solving whatever problem people have and sending them on their way rejoicing.”
“OK, but that means we have to actually care about them.”
“Yes, it does, and that's where we probably should think about the Lord Jesus.”
“Well, yeah,” Edwina said. “He cares, a lot, about us, and if I get my Sunday School stuff right, He has already solved a whole lot of stuff for us like keeping us out of Hell.”
“So, if we believe that, and we are meeting people He also cares about even though they are annoying … .”
“Well, yeah,” Edwina said. “I mean, I'mma probably still fight a lot of people, but the Lord is not one of them.”
“So, then, there is a third option, too,” the colonel said. “What if we decide that because the Lord protects us, they can't hurt us, and so we can let people live and show us whatever they are meant to show us before leaving our location?”
“You mean, they can teach us things?” Edwina said.
“Remember that time when Milton and George tried to make a winter wonderland out here with baking soda?”
“Oh, we all learned not to do that!”
“See?”
“Well, yeah, I get what you mean now.”
“And then there's a fourth option: maybe the problem isn't even meant for us to have to deal with, so if we can just hold back and be quiet and be kind, maybe the Lord will just work things out.”
Edwina considered this.
“Grandma is the best at that,” she said. “Papa is Problem Papa like I'm his Problem Child, but she never has trouble with all that. They will have these really slow-motion discussions in which she's not happy about something and he's real stubborn, but she will pray and be kind and wait, and eventually, he sees what she is saying and and will change stuff. But see, Papa is like me: he really wants to be a good person, and he works hard at it. Everybody doesn't deserve all that holding back. Some people really do need all the smoke.”
“But how do you know always if tomorrow, they might not decide to get it together because your kindness will show them the love of God, and that He really does care about them and that they don't have to be afraid?”
Edwina considered this.
“Well, yeah,” she said. “There's that option, too. I see why you stay calm with four ways to deal with folks before you actually have to go on and kill them.”
“Well, see, Edwina, I know me. When I break bad, I break bad, so I need to stay calm and look at all the other options, and when you know, you know.”
“Yeah, me too, so, we're just gonna do this thing together.”
“Yep. I'm becoming a man of peace like your grandfather is, and you're becoming a sweet little girl. If we need to take folks out, that's an option, but there are three others we can try first and stay peaceful.”
“It's good to have options,” Edwina said.
“It is,” Col. Lee said as he handed his little cousin a big handful of plums. “That basket is full now, so take those in, and bring two more out.”
