Thomas Stepforth Sr. marveled at how well God knew him.
Obviously, any man who could come from nothing and become a billionaire had an interest in and a capacity to be trusted with power.
Any man who can quiet the voice and the spirit of an enraged woman with a few words indeed had discovered great power.
“Well, you finally found time to call in your busy schedule, huh?”
“I had to wait until I could be kinder and gentler and more understanding than I have often been to you throughout your life. I apologize, and I repent.”
Mr. Stepforth started his conversation with each of his four daughters in this way. Each of his four daughters was silent for several seconds, and each of them started out next with: “What?”
“Your mother and I have been talking a great deal in the process of our reconciliation, and she has helped me to try to understand what the last 20 years have been like for you, as I did not make time to give you the love that you needed as you matured into an artist and a woman. I recognize the harm I have done you, and I apologize and repent.”
“What?”
Mr. Stepforth had not even discussed what they wanted to talk about except as a settled fact: he was selling them the reconciliation as something that was giving them what they really wanted.
He was, after all, a billionaire. He had sold a lot of things to a lot of people. He was a man of power.
He just had to discover the power of humility.
All four conversations had gone in a very different direction than was expected – they were still rough because the eventual comeback was, “You think you are just going to come back after 30 years and –.”
The only thing Mr. Stepforth said was, “You are largely correct about the facts, although not about the reasons – nevertheless, I apologize and I repent.”
The conversations ended much more quietly than expected … it was sort of like the process of making sour dough … a skillful baker knew how to let things rise to so far, and then applied the heat to kill the yeast and bring the bread to perfection.
Mr. Stepforth did not conceive of himself as the baker; he was in the process as much as his daughters.
Perhaps no one had ever thought of God as the Master Baker, but, because of where Mr. Stepforth was taking his wife for lunch, the thought occurred...
This is an interesting read :)
Thank you for reading!
Despite the fact that I'm not super active on Hive, I do enjoy your work and it's a pleasure.
I enjoy your work as well, and thanks again!
Hi deeanndmathews,
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Thank you!
Damn! i love you mind...
So interesting.
Thank you for reading!
Your welcome.