Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: JOY (10/28/21)
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TITLE: Effervescent Delight | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
11/01/21 -
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Today, she was a balloon without air, a daisy without petals, a dance without music.
The words of a worker shredded my soul. “It might be too late for help.”
I rushed, stumbling, to the healer in the midst of his joyful celebration. The mob pressed in on him, shoulder to shoulder, as far as I could see. Every nook and cranny stuffed with humanity. I stood in the shadows, anxious, wondering – could he do anything? Would he do anything? His hearty laughter burst through the mob and probed at the clouds covering my heart. Why couldn’t he do something?
The religious elite questioned his joy but he smiled and motioned around him. “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means. ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
His delight drew me in and I pushed hard past jagged elbows, bony knees and generous hips. I dared to drop down in front of him. In front of those who had no cause for joy or hope. “My little one is withering, gasping, fading. Touch her and she will be well and live alive.”
Without hesitation, he laid aside his mug of wine, stepped away from his host and guests, and pushed through the throng with me. His beefy bodyguards forged a furrow ahead. People grabbed for him, grasped at his robe, pulled at his hands. Time was short. And then he stopped. “Who touched my clothes?”
Who didn’t touch his robe? Thousands thronged. “How can you ask with such a mob?”
“I felt the power release,” the healer said as he looked around.
I needed that power for my little one. Someone else had tapped into it. Was there more?
A gap grew. A woman, trembling with fear, knelt. “I’ve bled for twelve years. I’ve spent all I had on doctors. I touched your robe and the bleeding stopped.”
The length of my daughter’s whole life, this woman had suffered - chained to pain, humiliation, hopelessness. But why did she have to choose now?
“Daughter, your faith has healed you,” the healer said. “Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
A dancer released and ecstasy embraced. The cheers thundering toward the heavens. It’s so hard to share in the joy of others when your world is tumbling in.
And then the news. “She’s gone. Come home. The cup of joy is empty. Don’t bother him anymore.”
The sparrow had tumbled from the nest. Was this the end?
“Not at all,” the healer said. “Don’t be afraid. Believe!”
“Your touch brings life,” I said.
Choosing Three he led us forward. The shrieking wailers already claimed the plaza and the doorway. They cluttered like vultures over prey. Darkness wrapped my home like a shroud around a corpse. That same darkness probed to smother my soul. “Believe!” he had said.
“Out with you,” he said to the wailers. “What’s all the commotion. The child sleeps.”
He physically pushed the professional death criers out into the streets. My wife, myself and three others stood by as he went to her and took her hand. “Little girl, get up,” he commanded as if inviting someone to a dance. And dance she did - the energy of the eager embracing life in all its fullness. Joy bubbled out of her eyes, her mouth, her limbs.
Death scattered and life tumbled out like Niagara Falls, like migrating wildebeests on the plains of the Serengeti, like wildflowers across the desert after the rains, like wild stallions released to thunder in the grasslands.
“Don’t tell anyone. Get her something to eat,” the healer said.
How do you not tell anyone when your feet dance across the meadows; when your heart soars with eagles; when your spirit sings the anthems of the heavens? How do you not tell anyone that the light of creation has penetrated the darkness through a word of life?
I love to watch my daughter dance. She is sparkles in a bottle, sunshine through the window, lavender unleashed, effervescent delight.
“Your touch brings life,” I had said, hardly daring to believe. I need to invite him to her wedding.
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Well done
Blessings