Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: HOPE (joyful, confident expectation in salvation) (03/05/15)
-
TITLE: I believe | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
03/07/15 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
Peg grabbed the clump of dandelions she had uprooted and shook the weeds. “What are you believing now?” She clutched her side and slowly rose to her feet. “If you keep standing on that picnic table I’ll believe that you’ll break your neck.”
Harvey looked down from his perch. “I believe that hope is all we really need.” He crouched and steadied himself with his hand. “If I hope enough the dollars will come. If I hope enough I can solve all human problems. If I hope enough I can do anything I plan to.”
Peg extended a trowel toward her husband. “I’ve been hoping all morning that you’d help me with the garden and it hasn’t accomplished a thing.”
Harvey stared at the trowel and moved to sit on the table with his feet on the bench. “Your problem is that you are setting your hope out for others to meet. Focus on yourself. I’ve been inspired by some great thinkers.”
Peg dropped the trowel and leaned up against the table. “Tell me one great thinker who inspired you.”
Harvey pressed his index finger against his temple. “Ah, it’s coming to me now, the Hartfords.”
“And who on this side of the Mississippi are the Hartfords?”
Harvey stepped off the bench onto the lawn and pontificated as he paced with his hands behind his back. “The Hartfords are the makers of modern America. George started it all by convincing his boss in New York to change from leather to tea.”
Peg moved over to check for aphids on the roses. “Wow, I can see it now. Tea shops on every corner.”
Harvey stopped and stared hard at his wife. He raised his finger and thumb as if holding a play gun. “Listen and learn.” He began to pace again. “Hartford bought whole clipperships of tea and cut out the middleman. They undersold everyone. They hoped to change the way we shopped.”
Peg broke off a stem and stepped forward to watch a bee hovering over the flowers on a strawberry plant. “Go on, I’m spellbound.”
Harvey ignored the sarcasm. “Twenty years after the start of the tea business there were ninety-five stores spread out from Boston to Milwaukee.”
Peg turned slowly and stared at her animated man. “So, you’re saying that hope is all it took to build an empire?”
Harvey scooped up a pile of weeds abandoned by Peg and carried them to the compost bin. “Naw, it took a bit of brains and brawn. George’s boys actually diversified and built the empire. By 1925 the boys had 13,961 stores and had way over $400 million. They became the world’s largest coffee retailer before the great depression hit.”
Peg lifted her hand to block out the sun from her eyes. “Now, how does a man who thinks about nothing but sports have room in your brain for all that?”
Harvey cocked his head and waited for more. When nothing else was said, he finished. “All I know is that when Hartford understood what his customers might hope for, and when he gave it to them, he prospered. His company had over $3 billion in income by 1950.”
Peg removed her gardening gloves and walked toward Harvey. She put her arms around him and gave him a gentle hug, laying her head on his chest. “I can hear your heartbeat,” she said.
Harvey gently rubbed his wife’s back and then released himself. “Stay right here in the garden. I’m going to fix us up some dinner and spoil you rotten. You figured out exactly what I was hoping for. You too shall prosper.”
Peg grabbed her husband’s hand. “Hope can’t do everything you know.”
Harvey swung around. “No, don’t be thinking about Jaimie again.”
“He was only two.”
“I filled in the pool. You have an incredible garden to work on.”
“I miss his laugh.”
“We can’t bring him back.”
“What’s the point of hope if it doesn’t change anything?”
“Hope refocuses you on what’s ahead. It takes the sting out of the present.”
“Shhh. Just hold me again.”
Tears streamed down both faces as pain fought with hope. Harvey rubbed his thumb under Peg’s eye. “You know because of Jesus that it’s not over, right?”
Peg stared up at her man. “Some days, you’re just going to have to figure out how to package up that hope you talk about. I’ll need every drop of it.”
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
Nicely done!
God bless~