LOVE COMES SOFTLY

LOVE COMES SOFTLY was the “most watched” Hallmark Channel television program ever and one of the most Christian and God-centered. Set in the Old West and based on a novel by Janette Oke, it opens with a young couple driving a covered wagon across the endless plains. The wife, Marty, thinks they’re going in the wrong direction. The husband, Aaron, is upset because Marty insisted upon bringing all of her books with her to the detriment of their food supply. At a critical moment in their argument, they look down off a bluff and see a beautiful pasture with a river running through it. Suddenly, their anxiety turns to joy because they know that this is the place.

After the first night, however, one of their horses escapes. When Aaron goes to look for it, he gets bucked from his horse, hits his head on a rock, and dies. It takes some time before word gets to Marty from a distant neighbor. She is devastated. At the funeral, with all the settlers gathered, another neighbor, Clark Davis, asks her to marry him before the preacher leaves town the next day. He says his wife died, and he needs somebody to take care of his little daughter, Missy. Marty is shocked, but relents when he promises to give her passage home in the spring.

At first, Marty completely rejects the family, and Missy is completely alienated because her mother has just died. They are both grieving terribly.

Clark, however, expresses Christian wisdom and understanding. He says that Marty is an answer to prayer. When she says that she can’t handle Missy because she’s grieving, he says, “That’s exactly why you can handle her.” When love, prayer, and compassion triumphs over trials and tribulations, true love does come softly to this frontier family. In the process, Marty even has a conversion experience.

This is pretty bold stuff for Hallmark. The passages on understanding God and God’s love in this television movie are superb. Michael Landon, Jr. does a great job of directing this movie. The music, especially, is poignant and stirring. Since this was the most popular show on the Hallmark Channel, perhaps it will send a message that the more faith and values you insert into a production, the better they do. Certainly, Clark Davis is one of the unique heroes, expressing the wonderful compassionate attributes of God’s love and the many aspects of His relationship with His family.

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SUMMARY: LOVE COMES SOFTLY was the “most watched” Hallmark Channel television program ever and one of the most Christian. Set in the Old West, it demonstrates how Christian wisdom, understanding, love, prayer, and compassion triumphs over trials and tribulations, to bring true love and conversion to this frontier family.