Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Rest in His Finished Work 8/13-8/20/26 (08/13/26)
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TITLE: Casseroles, Clipboards, and the Cross | Previous Challenge Entry
By Corinne Smelker
08/20/26 -
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to earn her keep in the Kingdom of God.
She’d read the verse a hundred times—
“It is finished”—but still she found it odd.
Surely, she thought, while brushing her teeth,
there must be some fine print left unread.
A heavenly surcharge? A processing fee?
Some spiritual tax still hanging over her head?
So she launched her campaign with military precision,
clipboard in hand and a color-coded chart.
She volunteered at the food bank at dawn,
then taught Sunday school with excessive heart.
She baked fourteen casseroles, frosted three cakes,
alphabetized hymnals by key and by mood.
She polished the pews till they squeaked in protest
and reorganized crayons in the nursery (for good).
She wrote God a spreadsheet of last month’s good deeds
(with footnotes and graphs and a pie chart in blue).
She walked every widow, she prayed every list,
she even ironed the pastor’s old suit (size 42).
By Thursday her feet had declared open mutiny,
her casserole dishes had filed for divorce.
The dog hid in terror whenever she entered,
fearing another “blessing” of forced discourse.
Still Mabel pressed on, muttering verses,
certain salvation needed her personal flair.
“Faith without works is dead,” she recited,
while knitting twelve scarves for the church’s prayer chair.
Friday she cornered the angel on duty
(who’d stopped by for coffee and mild intervention).
“I’ve done all the things!” she announced with a flourish.
“Now surely I’m worthy of full comprehension!”
The angel just sighed, stirred his tea with a feather,
and pulled out a scroll that glowed softly with light.
“Dear Mabel,” he said, “you’ve been terribly busy,
but the invoice was settled one long-ago night.”
He pointed to words written bold in red ink:
PAID IN FULL by the blood of the Lamb.
“No balance remaining. No interest accruing.
No need for your casseroles, charts, or your spam.”
Mabel blinked twice. “But I color-coded everything…”
“I noticed,” the angel replied with a grin.
“The cumin is safe, and the prayer list survives,
but none of it purchased the grace you stand in.”
“You mean…” she whispered, clipboard descending,
“I can stop running? Stop proving? Just… rest?”
“That’s the idea,” he said, sipping slowly.
“The work was completed. He passed every test.”
She sat on the couch as the truth settled gently,
the frantic machinery grinding to halt.
No more spiritual overtime hours,
no more proving her worth by default.
The dog crept out cautiously, sniffing the quiet.
The casserole dishes exhaled in relief.
Harold peeked in from the hallway and whispered,
“Is it safe? Has she finally turned a new leaf?”
Mabel laughed then—a real one, unhurried—
and set down the clipboard for good.
“Apparently,” she said, “I’ve been working for nothing.
The debt was already paid, just as He said it would.”
She poured herself coffee, no longer keeping score,
and watched afternoon light paint the floor.
No charts. No lists. No frantic additions.
Just rest in the finished work—nothing more.
And somewhere in heaven the ledger stayed closed,
the stamp bright and final and true.
While Mabel, at last, simply sat and received
the gift that required nothing of her to do.
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Amen! Hallelujah!
Keep writing for the glory of God!
A well deserved first place entry in the EC this week and very creative piece as well.