The die was cast. Steve was now decidedly involved in a personal way in the implications of his Reedville address. And the more he thought about it, the more he saw it Kay’s way. It was indeed the only way, he concluded.
In his own mind he was very clear about certain features of human nature. He had no doubt that as long as the human race survived, there would always be those dedicated to expanding the horizons of knowledge and gaining ever greater mastery over the forces of nature. No human life on earth would be unaffected by this. He was also convinced now beyond a shadow of a doubt that this would have a deadly effect on people as a whole unless love took over from Sin as the dominant force in the human soul, unless Cecilia’s Jesus could do for the whole human race what He had done for her. Only then would man’s innate bent toward self-gratification as a way of life be superseded by a divinely inspired thirst for the well-being of others. This passionate thirst was as needed for survival on the national and international levels as it was on the level of each individual person, and it represented the precise reversal of what was commonly understood as the process of evolution, the survival of the fittest. Somehow, people’s loyalties had to be raised above the levels of chauvinism, blind patriotism, and all the many seductive forms of hedonism, raised to the level of a passionate concern for the well-being of others. If all we care about is our own personal well-being, we are on the road to disaster as a race. The chain of the survival of the fittest had to be shattered link by link through the victory of love, or else no one would survive. We would end up destroying ourselves as we destroy others. The strongest would annihilate one another and the weakest would be their helpless victims. Without love, scientists would continue to operate in oblivious isolation and people everywhere would suffer as a result. Love, and love alone, was the key to humanity’s future. Without love, and all the risks it entails, humanity had no future.
For Steve, Jesus had said it all in enjoining us to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and to “love one another as I have loved you.” Our failure to take Him at His word in the past had had catastrophic results at every level. Failure to take Him at His word now in this new age of science would lead inevitably to our annihilation. What was once prudent advice had now become humanity’s recipe for survival.
But no one can be forced to love, he realized. We must be taught to love, inspired to love, reformed to love. We must be enveloped by love until it becomes our nature. This can come only through a spiritually transforming encounter with God who is Love, an encounter most often facilitated by people who have already been transformed by their encounter with Him, people like Cecilia and Kay.
The irony is this: the Cecilias and the Kays are the most authentic people in the world, the most honest, least devious, most fully alive, and most happy people in the world. What or who is preventing everyone else from making it their life’s goal to be like them? What or who is blinding people from embracing what so clearly serves in their own best interests? Can it really be that “an enemy has done this,” as Jesus said? What did He mean by that?
It encouraged Steve to see evidences of love operating here and there throughout the world in people who still believed that “it is more blessed to give than to receive,” even though sometimes these evidences appeared in less than perfect expressions—like the teacher devoted to cramming a cherished principle down the throat of a student who has no possible use for it, or a nation urging self-sacrifice on its citizens for its own sake with no concern for the well-being of anyone beyond their borders. But the impulse for goodness was almost always detectible in many places and guises, however imperfect, and Dr. Pearson was quick to take note of it with a sense of relief.
During the months of Kay’s pregnancy, Steve frequently spoke of these things with her. The conversation of a typical evening ran something like this:
“How did you feel today at school, sweetheart?”
Steve had been using more terms of endearment lately.
“Quite well. Dr. Pederson has cut my dosage of insulin down to forty-five percent of normal. And recently I’ve had more candy than in the rest of my life all put together. Life is pretty good.”
“Well, just so we keep everything in balance. I think I like you a little plumper, anyhow.”
“That’s not me, Funny Face. That’s our Little One.”
Then they would just sit there in silence and stare at each other, soaking it all in.
“We’ve got to take really good care of him or her, Kay. If it’s a girl, I hope she’ll be just like you. If it’s a boy, we’ll do our best to help him to be a better man than I am. You have always blessed our home with kindness and love, and that will give our little one such a good start in life, a good basis for being generous and loving toward others, a good attitude toward others and just the right heart to communicate that attitude to them, especially if they are very broken. Just like you, it will come naturally to our child to be like the man Jesus told us about this morning in our devotions who gave the thief his cloak after he had already stolen his coat and who carried the soldier’s backpack two miles when he could have quit after one.”
“O my darling, that’s you, not me!”
“No, it’s you. It’s only thanks to you that I bounced back from despair and found a reason to live again.”
Steve was speaking in low ardent tones.
“The very night I was forced to despair of man’s ability to see beyond himself and to love others, that’s when we, you and I, brought together the elements of this work of love who is in your womb. Not progress, nor culture, nor solving problems, nor unraveling mysteries is the Cause of God on this earth, Kay, but simply love without which all of these other endeavors will lead only to disaster. But with love, all of them can be purified and sanctified and turned into something good. Love requires us always to take into account the full effects of everything we do on the basic well-being of people. ‘God is love,’ the apostle tells us, and he should know. That means that love is divine, and this gives us a firm basis for hope. Jesus’ resurrection means something after all. It means that life on earth at its darkest does not have the final word. The little ones who live by faith in Him and are filled with God’s love have the final word. You and Cecilia have it. And the precious little bundle in your womb will have it too, please God!”
“Yes, Steve. He will. God is at work so that through our child He may bring peace on earth, goodwill to men.”
Steve closed his eyes and rubbed them with his fingers. His pipe had gone out while he was talking.
“It is all so clear. Love is the only force that can work this miracle for the human race…. And God is totally Love. Let Him use us and our little one as He will as instruments of His love.”
“He will, Steve. We are giving Him what we can, and He is accepting it. I feel His strength in me. I really do. And I hear Him saying to us, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.’”
“O my dear Lord!” Steve sighed. “How I long to be a true peacemaker, a true son of God!”