A True Story
In my younger days there lived in Omaha, Nebraska, a gentleman and his wife who were enjoying a happy married life. But sin overcame the husband, he proved untrue to his wife, and she found it out. She had loved him dearly and he had loved her, but now sin separated them. When she learned of this she said to him, "Leave, and don't ever let me see you again. I never want to see you."
He was man enough to deed his property over to her, reser~ing only enough to enable him to start a small business in Des Moines, Iowa, and then he left her. They had one little girl, Marie, and frequently she would ask her mother, "Where is Daddy? When will Daddy come home? Why doesn't he come home?" She must have surmised something which her mother never told her. Then she became very ill. Her rosy cheek~ paled from day to day. The physician was called in.
Finally he said to the mother: "Madam, your little girl suffers from something that no human can remedy. Neither I nor any other doctor can do anything for her. She suffers from what we call a broken heart. She has a deep gnawing at her heart and medicine cannot help that. She will leave you. Do all you can for her and give her anything she wants, for nothing you may give her will harm her and neither will anything help."
The mother was grief-stricken, but in an attempt to be cheerful she went to her little girl and said, "Marie, do you know what the doctor said? He said you could have anything you want. Just say the word and I will have you anything you may wish."
"Anything I wish?" she asked.
"Yes, anything you may want," responded her mother.
"Anything at all?" further questioned Marie.
"Yes, anything at all."
"Then I want Daddy."
Oh, that was unexpected. There was a tug of war between the mother's love for her daughter and her sense of the injustice she had suffered. But what mother can deny the wish to a dying darling? So a wire was sent to Des Moines. The husband received it, and at noon the next day he sat in a westbound Rock Island train. He arrived in Omaha that evening. He knew the way to the house very well, for he had trod those streets many times. As he rang the doorbell, after having been away for two years, the maid answered.
He said, "I am Mr."
"Oh yes," said the maid, "you are expected."
He was ushered in, and the nurse said, "I will get Marie ready." A minute or so later he was invited into Marie's bedroom, where the little girl was spending her last peaceful moments. As he walked in one door his wife went out of the other. She did not want to meet him. Bending over the bed, the frail little arms slipped around his neck as she said, "O Daddy, I am so glad that you came! I have waited and waited for you," and then he kissed those ashen cheeks and whispered his love into her ear.
Then, suddenly, she looked around in surprise and said, "Where is Mother ? Bring Mother in."
The nurse replied, "I will tell your mother, Marie."
She stepped out and approached the mother saying, "Marie is calling for her mothcr." Again there was a tug at her heart. Should she appear in his sight? She could not deny the little girl's wish and so, without speaking to him, she came in and knelt by the bed, saying, "What is it Marie?"
The little hand fumbled around until it got hold of Mother's hand and pulled it down over the place where the little heart was beating. Then the other hand reached out and got hold of Daddy's hand and pulled that right down over the mother's hand. Marie did not say a word, but she placed her little hand on top of theirs and held them tightly.
The husband found his voice first and said, "Wife, I understand what our darling means. She is asking us to be reunited. I know I deserve to be cast off forever, but for Marie's sake can't you take me back and give her joy?"
After a few momenb his wife answered, "Yes, husband, you are my husband for Marie's sake. We will forget the past." With that he leaned over and kissed his wife. The doctor had said, "Marie must not be subjected to any excitement, for he cannot stand it." But that had been forgotten at this crucial moment of reunion. The mother, whose hand was nearest Marie's heart, suddenly said, "I don't feel her heart beating." It had stopped forever. The joy of reuniting father and mother had been too much for the little girl; it had cost her her life. She had brought them together and then passed away.
But listen friends, a greater reconciliation than this was effected nearly 2,000 years ago at Calvary. As He hung there on the cross- the Sinless One: Son of God and Son of Man, and as His heart ceased beating, He joined forever the hand of God with that of Mankind.
And so the hand of God is still extended today, across that Sacrifice, of Calvary, and the heart of God is yearning for you-Offending Sinner to put your hand in His.
Won't you do it Sinner, Friend-won't you do it now? Or will you too despise Him, who was nailed to the Cross for your sins and mine? There is a Hell to shun and a Heaven to gain.
Oh, soul, dear soul-where will you spend Eternity?
"Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37. -Tract
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