September 5, 2012
Dear Diary:
Chapter Thirteen of Stepping Heavenward brings about the arrival of many presences; starting with Katy's cherished mother. I feel that her arrival is a refreshment for our heroine, and gives her an insight of patience regarding her trying in-laws. Exeunt her mother, and cue in the sage Mrs. Campbell and her Four Steps to Peace (which I found to be quite accurate). Of course, our protagonist is slightly discouraged at the prospect of so much self-sacrifice, but she very quickly realizes that Christ is worth it all. Dr. Cabot makes an appearance and reminds us (as readers) of the good ol' days when Katherine's biggest worry was finding a balance between her present self and the person she wanted to be. And then....three letters, from three different perspectives, describe the arrival of a beautiful baby boy. Katherine is delighted to have him in her life, but of course her happiness is not perfect; Martha is still sassy, the baby isn't named after her dead father (although I do suppose that marriage is made up of compromises), and her father-in-law (while probably having good-intentions) has the audacity to misjudge Katherine's love for her son as idolatry. But Ernest does remember their anniversary this time, and Martha's hardened composure softens just a wee bit.
Chapter Fourteen kicks off with a bittersweet scenario; Katherine has inherited the money from Susan Greer (remember, our Katy prayed for her in her last hours), and she now has over a hundred dollars a year to give away to the poor for the rest of her life; however, she finds out that Dr. Cabot knows about Ernest's struggle to pay for his father's debts, which Katherine thought was a secret between her and her husband. With this weighing on her heart, she also feels like Ernest is becoming more and more distant from her and the baby isn't doing as well as she would like. Then her dear aunt comes to visit her household, and the sweet-tempered woman becomes angry with how heavy Katy's burden of life has become (which I loved her all the more for). The tension between Martha and Katherine is alleviated a little when Martha convinces her brother that Katy has been dealing with a lot, and Katy is graced with further relief when she goes to visit her lovely mother with her baby. It is being away, however, that causes both Katherine and Ernest to realize how much they love one another and want to be in each other's company, so Ernest does a perfectly lovely thing and takes some time off from work to spend with his family (his wife and baby, which should be his priority right after God). They sincerely make amends, and things are looking up.
Chapter Fifteen seems to be a sort of "calm after the raging storm," where things aren't perfect (are they ever?) but they are much, much better. I liked the conversation Katherine and her father-in-law have about recreation and its purposes, because I don't think there would be very much pleasure in serving a God who did not allow you to enjoy His magnificent creation and things He has enabled us to do. And although I highly doubted that Katy would actually die when she was "faced by death" in her illness, I really did appreciate her readiness to go home. To me, that seems like a sincere blessing of God's peace and love than someone who has a wailing panic attack before their life ends. But no, anything involving a lack of suffering in Katherine's life surely must be wicked to the extreme, so of course her father-in-law decides to comment that it makes her seem less sincere in her faith. Thankfully, Ernest steps in and, rather heatedly, defends his wife from his father's attack, and after Katy goes on a (righteous) rant, her father-in-law is given the grace to see the wisdom in her words. A baby girl arrives in the family, and though she is feeble her family has high hopes for her health; and little Ernest has inherited his mother's stubbornness and sweet strength of character.
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