The Verdict

Martin MacNeill Murder Trial:

Was I consumed?  Was I obsessed?  Perhaps.  Or at least pretty darn close.  I watched what I could on t.v. as well as online though not every day, nor every minute of it.  I DID stay up until 2:00 in the morning last night/this morning waiting to hear the verdict.  I was surprised that the jury went so late in to the night.  I was also surprised they came up with a verdict after only 11 hours of deliberation.  Though this was a case of circumstantial evidence, it was obviously compelling enough to result in a Guilty verdict.

There has to be some relief in knowing that this man will be behind bars for a long time.  For the family, close friends and even the public.  I, for one, do not want this man to come in to contact with anyone and destroy any more lives in any manner.  His sentence could be 15 years to life for the murder and 1-15 years for Obstruction of Justice.

I went to bed last with the images of Michele's family just sobbing in the courtroom after the guilty verdict was announced.  So much trauma and deceit.  It would be bad enough for those children to have lost their mother by natural causes.

I remember talking with a friend of mine when she opened up to me about her feelings and emotions after her father died (of natural causes).  She was super close to him and felt a huge loss in her life.  She was driving the next day after his death running some errands and seeing people walking down the streets, smiling, going on about their business and lives.  She told me she felt like screaming out, "People!  Don't you know what just happened!??  My Father just died!  This world will never be the same without him!  How can you just go on being happy and carefree when there is this great loss here and now"!    Obviously her world came crashing down around her and her loss was immense. 

I remembered this conversation that I had had with her, when I woke up this morning and remembered about the MacNeill children and Michele's family.  Their lives will never be the same.  The rest of the world goes on and for some, since justice seems to have been served, will put this behind them and seldom give it a thought in the future.  For some, it will have made a bigger impact and their thoughts and memories of the entire ordeal will be fresher and more often.  But for the family, it will never go away during this lifetime. 
Just after I was thinking this, I picked up my phone and looked at my little widget that offers me up a "scripture of the day".  Just one verse, randomly chosen, for the benefit of their thousands of subscribers.  To be applied with whatever appropriateness to their day.

Today's scripture:  "Be patient in afflictions, revile not against those that revile.  Govern your house in meekness and be steadfast."  Perfect.  Right?   

I hope the Michele's children and family can find some peace using their faith, their family and know that their afflictions are for this life only.