Mrs. Manley glanced round her newly decorated family room with much satisfaction.
“Yes, it is really finished at last,” she murmured to herself; “spring-cleaned and painted, and it does look nice. How pleased Harry will be!”
And yet, what was that telltale mark upon the freshness of the new wallpaper? She crossed the room with a puckered brow, and an exclamation of annoyance crossed her lips.
“That is Eric!” she said aloud. “What a very naughty boy he is; he really must be punished for this!”
At the moment Eric was out with his aunt, but on his return his mother called him into the family room.
Pointing to the grotesque little figure upon the paper, she said, “Did you do that, Eric?”
The boy flushed. “No, Mother,” he answered, after a moment’s hesitation.
Mrs. Manley looked surprised. “Are you quite sure you did not do it?”
“Quite sure, Mother.”
“Oh, very well,” replied Mrs. Manley quietly; “of course my own boy would not tell me a lie, and I trust him.”
And then Eric ran off into the garden, and his aunt coming into the room at the moment, she was shown the cause of the trouble.
“You should not have given in to him, my dear,” she said to her sister. “Of course he has done it. How many times have you seen that same ‘old man’ scrawled across, everything available. I wonder that you are so weak with him.”
Mrs. Manley hesitated.
“I shall wait,” she said. “I am sure he will confess, and I would rather he did that.”
But the days passed and nothing was said. Then one morning the aunt noticed that Eric’s new straw hat had been jagged around the brim, seemingly with blunted scissors. She brought it to her sister who looked at it in silence, then after a swift prayer for wisdom, Mrs. Manley went to the door, opened it and called: “Eric, I want you a minute!”
“All right! I’m coming, Mother!”
“Eric,” she began as he came into the room, “why did you spoil this hat?”
“I—I didn’t, Mother.”
“Do you know how it was done, then?”
“No, I don’t know anything about it.”
There was dead silence in the room, then the words: “Very well. Of course my own boy would not tell a lie, and I trust him.”
But that night, after Eric’s bedtime, a small figure, still in his play suit, came running down to the family room where Mrs. Manley sat alone, and two arms were thrown around her neck. Two bent shoulders began to heave convulsively, and big sobs to shake the kneeling figure. And then the mother’s heart sang for joy, for she guessed what was happening, and knew that her prayers had been answered.
“Oh, Mother! I can’t say my prayers again until I’ve told you what a wicked boy I am. I did draw that old man on the new wallpaper, and I did cut my new hat, so I told two dreadfully big, awful lies; but I am so sorry now, Mother, so will you forgive me and... trust me again?”
Did Mrs. Manley forgive her boy? Ah, yes, it was just what she had been waiting and praying for. And in the same way the Lord Jesus waits to be gracious to us. He died that we might escape punishment, so He will not turn away anyone who is truly sorry and wants to be forgiven. All we have to do is to ask Him for the forgiveness He is waiting to bestow; and if we do this we shall find that He keeps His promises, and never casts out anyone who comes to Him in faith.
ML 05/07/1961