Just Shine On

Six Whole Days

A Fictional Short Story by Alexis Grace

 It had been a tough week, and nothing seemed to be going the way I needed it to.

It was nothing terrible; just the ordinary happenings of everyday life. As I ran along the banks of a nearby stream, I found a log and sat down to look over the past week.  

It started with a big fight with my parents, which resulted with me being grounded because I completely lost my temper. Being grounded meant I couldn’t go to youth group or any of my other favorite places. Then, I got a bad grade on a test in my hardest course, and I knew it would take at least five perfect grades on my upcoming assignments to bring my average back up. While making breakfast the next day, my fried egg exploded. As I cleaned up the yolk and egg white that were spewed everywhere, I completely forgot about my toast, which burned to a blackened crisp. After I finished cleaning up that whole mess, I proceeded to slam my finger in the silverware draw. It remained swollen, painful, and fat for three days. Misplacing my iTouch charger was quite inconvenient, as my iPod went completely dead in the middle of a conversation with one of my friends. I searched for it the rest of the day, until I finally found it under a pile of clothes, in a laundry basket. Coincidence? I think not. I grudgingly folded all the clothes after that. A few other things happened too, but I’ll spare you any more details. Needless to say, I was in a bad mood all week.

Throwing rocks into the stream as hard as I could helped to release some of the built up anger. I then sat back down on the log, poking my finger into a pile of moss that grew off of it.

A voice interrupted my thoughts:

“What made you think you could go about your week alone?” and I instantly knew who it was. My heart beat sped up, and even the hairs on the back of my neck stood up in awe. I groaned out loud as I realized I hadn’t prayed since the fight with my parents…which was six days ago.

Six. Whole. Days. Shoot!

No wonder why my week had been so tough; I had neglected to confide in Him. If I had, maybe I would’ve had a better attitude. I knew He could read my thoughts, because again, He asked the question, “What made you think you could go about your week alone?” 

I thought about it, but of course, I had no good excuse. “I don’t know,” I said miserably. He sat down next to me, right on the moss patch. I guess He didn’t want me to be distracted from Him. Reading my mind again, He winked and said, “I know you too well.” I bit back a giggle; of course He did.

 “My sister, I waited for you to talk to me. It is written, ‘Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain you,’ but I didn’t hear you call out to Me even once. Still I waited, and waited with open arms and a ready ear. Did I really need to search for you, you lost little lamb?” He asked, gently reprimanding me. 

“I’m sorry Jesus! I didn’t mean to forget about you! I’ve just been so caught up in this week, and everything that went wrong.” I explained. Not that it was a good reason or anything.

“I could’ve made your week a little easier, you know,” was His response. “I know,” I sighed. “It won’t happen again.” 

“Good. I want to hear all about your day, every morning, night, and in between. Talk to me, because I will be waiting,” He said, before hugging me and standing up. I nodded, but He had already disappeared. “I still saw that,” He whispered in my ear. I laughed, picked up a stone, and flicked it across the water. 

I had learned my lesson.

If I couldn’t talk to Jesus about the little things that happened in my life, what would I do when things much bigger than my crummy week confronted me? I needed to spend more time talking to Him. As I walked home, I knew I would start tonight. 

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* A Note from the Author:  Although I was grounded once for being disrespectful to my parents, and rightly so, the rest of this story is quite obviously fictional writing.  My message in it though, is that in good times and bad, Jesus is always waiting for us to spend time with Him. Does He really appear physically visible to us? No, of course not. But He really is always right there with us, whether we are paying attention to Him or not. The fact is, when you pray a lot, and keep open communication with Him, you know and feel Him beside you so clearly, it’s as if you can see Him there physically. It’s such a comfort to know you are never alone. He has always showed us how much He loves us, just by dying on the cross for us.
So no matter what you have been through, what you have done, or if you have never even prayed before, I encourage you to start today to develop that kind of relationship with Jesus. Because you need Him. And He really is waiting for you, specifically.
-Alexis Grace

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