Beacon of forgiveness

I stumbled on this book doing a quick search of top book club books from several years ago. I thought this was our best chance of not having to struggle with waiting lists.  I hadn't heard of this title or author before but the story line intrigued me.  

In The Light Between Oceans, Stedman leads us to Australia where we meet Tom, a veteran that has traveled the world and struggled with the horrors of war. He finds comfort in the solitude of his role as a lighthouse keeper in the most remote area of the country, Janus Rock.  Tom finds love, and a second chance, with Isabel.  She  moves to Janus with Tom and embraces the solitary peace as well.  However, Isabel has 3 miscarriages, becoming more distraught and forlorn after each.  Shortly after her third miscarriage, a small boat washes ashore. They find a deceased man but also find a baby girl, alive and well.  Tom, ever the rule follower, prepares to signal for help. However, Isabel comforts the baby and asks Tom to wait just a day to report the baby.  One day turns to two, two to three. Soon enough, Tom and Isabel find themselves as parents to the sweet baby, whom they lovingly call Lucy.  Fast forward a few years, and they are on leave on the main shore.  They learn of Hannah, whose husband and daughter were lost at sea.  This begins an inner turmoil for both Tom and Isabel as they struggle with what, or who, is right in a situation where everyone is bound to be devastated.  What an amazing thing to think about - how one decision, however small or great that decision is, may have effects that ripple out to people we would never imagine.  It makes me think of the butterfly effect theory.

Tom appeared to love his job. I wonder if he truly loved his job, or rather if he loved the routine. The safety with numbers.  Stedman alludes to this in the following passage about logging the items and events of the lighthouse,

"...But he feels a particular peace when he writes... He relishes the language.  When he thinks back to the chaos, the years of manipulating facts, or the impossibility of knowing, let alone describing, what the bloody hell was going on while explosions shattered the ground all around him, he enjoys the luxury of stating a simple truth."  

While I cannot relate to Tom's experience in war, I can relate to his seeking out the simple, the defined.  I work in a field of chaos, of gray vs. black and white.  I love the tasks that I see as simple. Maybe the tasks aren't simple, but rather they are defined. I like structure and rules.  Nerd alert (is that really a thing??)... I love data entry.  Give me a spreadsheet task and you've made me a happy girl. I don't have to make any decisions, I just have to type.  What tasks do you love that others might groan about having to do?  

I feel Tom seeks the solitude of the lighthouse because of the trauma of war.  His job is predictable, safe, controlled. Tom says,

"You don't understand, Isabel. No civilized person should ever have to understand. And trying to describe it would be like passing on a disease...  I did what I did so that people like you and Lucy could forget it ever happened.  So that it would never happen again.  'The war to end all wars,' remember?..."

These words are a powerful reminder to me to be thankful for all that I have and to recognize the sacrifices that people have made for others.  Tom struggles with being one that made it out alive, feeling unjust guilt and grief for his comrades.

The theme of forgiveness runs through Stedman's book.  I loved how the characters each came to the realization that there were things they could control, actions they could take towards forgiveness.  Tom learns to forgive himself.  Isabel struggles with forgiving Tom for his wrongdoings.  Hannah remembers her deceased husband Frank's words about forgiveness,

"Oh, but my treasure, it is so much less exhausting. You only have to forgive once.  To resent, you have to do it all day, every day. You have to keep remembering all the bad things... we always have a choice.  All of us."

Stedman talked about forgiveness from God, forgiveness of others and forgiveness of self.  

We can choose to spend an enormous amount of energy rehashing the past and letting anger bubble to the surface, or we can accept what happened and choose to find a way to focus on the present. Much easier said than done, but maybe forgiveness is so much easier on our soul.  How about these next few weeks, we try to practice some forgiveness, whether to someone we feel has wronged us, or maybe even more important, to ourselves.   

You can grab a copy of The Light Between Oceans by clicking below. I am an Amazon associate and may earn a small amount from any purchase.