Category: Uncategorized
-
The highest place did not keep Him far away. The chair was too small for the visitor. It had been placed beside the waiting room window for a child who was still learning how to tie his shoes. The visitor, however, was a tall man in a dark coat, carrying a folder that made people…
-
Some transportation systems require very little planning. The ball bounced once. The boy bounced twice. This seemed unfair. The enormous white ball had landed perfectly. He had not. One sneaker pointed toward the sky. The other was temporarily missing. For several seconds he lay on the floor, staring upward while the ball rolled slowly away.…
-
Live with a heart that still brings peace. The dove had been carrying the branch for most of the morning. This was beginning to seem unnecessary. There had been no flood. No ark. No ancient patriarch leaning over a wooden railing waiting for important botanical news. Just a white dove, one leafy branch, and a…
-
When every voice matters, one voice changes the room. The child had been given the megaphone for an important announcement, which was already a questionable decision. The room was full of adults. Someone was explaining the schedule. Someone else was answering a phone call near the window. A radio was speaking from the kitchen, a…
-
Koffi was already at the board when the first students came in. A line of mathematics ran across the black surface. Beneath it, he had written a second line and stopped halfway through a third. The classroom was still arranging itself. A chair moved. A book fell open. Someone near the window whispered about football.…
-
Small courage has surprisingly good hands. “Again.” The small hand was already in the air. Milo looked at it. Then at the bicycle. Then at the knee of his trousers, where a fresh green stain had appeared beside an older brown one. “No.” His sister kept her hand up. Five fingers. Patient. Slightly annoying. Behind…
-
Some moments never leave, they just live softer in our hearts. The tea had been waiting for seventeen minutes. This was long enough to stop being hot, but apparently not long enough to stop being important. The white porcelain cup sat beneath the old tree, exactly where it had been placed every morning that week.…
-
Some temptations arrive looking helpful. The stone had been waiting in the wilderness for a very long time. It had survived heat, wind, and the occasional opinion of a lizard, but it had never before been asked to become bread. Then Jesus was hungry. The Gospel tradition places Him in a wilderness where the ground…
-
Zhang Baolong had a hand. Alexander had a stone seat. Pang Juan had a fire. None of those things looked large enough to carry a story. A hand could be cleaned. A stone seat could be left beneath a tree. A fire could be counted, then abandoned beside a road. But each one remained after…
-
Going together doesn’t always mean going the same way. Mother Duck had four ducklings behind her. She checked. One. Two. Three. Four. Excellent. She turned toward the path and began walking. Behind her came eight tiny orange feet. Pat-pat-pat-pat. For almost six seconds, they formed a line. It was beautiful. Then one of them saw…
