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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Flowers (10/03/05)
The warm sun shone brightly, as the sounds of songbirds harmonizing with crickets and grasshoppers drifted on the spring breeze. Spring was in the air, and love was just around the corner.

Dave Nichols and his six year old daughter, Julie, walked through a country meadow during one of their weekly visits. He enjoyed spending time with her, especially now, because since the divorce he was only able to see her for a few days every two weeks.

Julie skipped along quietly humming, just a few feet in front of her father. The sun reflected off her dark hair, seemingly to make it glow. Her sudden childishly happy giggles filled the air as she chased a fluttering butterfly for a short distance. Rainbows of colourful flowers dotted the land, and bees buzzed from bloom to bloom, collecting pollen.

After several moments, Julie stopped to pick a daisy. Glancing at her father, her dark brown eyes emanating with such love for him, she slowly pulled off a single white petal, and tossed both it and the flower to the ground. “He loves me!” She sang. Running back to her father, she grabbed his hand and pulled him down the narrow, dusty path.

After a short distance, she spotted another patch of daisies swaying in the gentle wind, dancing to a silent tune not heard by human ears. Picking several, she placed the white blooms in her father’s hand. Choosing the biggest one, she repeated her earlier process of plucking a single petal. “He loves me!” She tossed the flower away, and again repeated the same procedure with the rest.

“Julie Baby.” Her father said kneeling to her level. “Why do you keep pulling a single petal from these flowers?” He was curious of why she was doing this.

“Because.” She simply stated. “Mommy said that when she was little she used to play a game where she would do this and say, ‘he loves me,’ and then pull another one out and say ‘he loves me not’, and that’s what I’m doing.”

Dave knew the game she was referring to. It was one he remembered his sisters playing, as they attempted to figure out if the boy of their dreams really did love them or not. “But you’re not doing that. You just stop after the first ‘he loves me’. Why?”

“We sing ‘Jesus Loves Me’ in Sunday School.” She said, seeming to change the topic as she often did when she didn’t want to answer a question.

It dawned on him that was what she had been humming earlier! Dave immediately recognized the song, and though it had been a long time since he had been to Sunday school and church himself, he remembered singing it as a child. The tune now echoed in his head.

“Honey, I don’t get it. What does that have to do with the flowers?” He sat down on the warm earth and pulled Julie onto his lap. His daughter could be so confusing to him, like she was right now.

“Daddy,” She paused and looked at him as though he should know the answer. “Jesus loves me. I don’t need to pull off any more petals. You love me too, right? Mommy told me you do. She said that just because you’re not married to her anymore, doesn’t mean that you don’t love me.”

His heart fluttered and he chocked back his emotions. His little girl had been worried that he might have stopped loving her. His heart was nearly breaking at the thought of his little Julie being hurt from this divorce. Dave wrapped his arms around his daughter and squeezed tightly. “Mommy is right. I do love you, always and forever. No matter what, nothing will ever make me stop loving you, Baby. Don’t ever forget that.”

“Just like Jesus, right Daddy? He will never stop loving me either.” She paused. “Daddy?”

“Yes, Baby?” Dave continued holding his daughter, not wanting to let go; not realizing just how much he, too, had been hurting as a result of the events of the past several months.

“Jesus loves you, too.”

“Yes, He does.” How could he have forgotten that? Somewhere along the line, Dave had forgotten about Jesus’ love. Smiling, he kissed the tip of Julie’s nose and allowed his tears to flow for the first time in a long time. He reached and picked one of the daisies. Smiling at his daughter, he copied her earlier motions, saying, “He loves me!”
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This article has been read 2158 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Gabrielle Morgan
10/11/05
A touching story of the love of a father and daughter who are separated. I liked the ending - the child bringing the father to contemplate the love of Jesus. Well written, a good read.
Amy Verlennich
10/12/05
Oh... I liked this, and it brought tears to my eyes... divorce is so tough... this was a really wonderful story, and so true how children can be so much wiser than us at times! Blessings, Amy
Jan Ackerson
10/12/05
Very well-written and tender.
Melanie Kerr 
10/12/05
I had worked out what she doing long before he did, but i didn't make the connection with Jesus. A lovely story, asimple but effective analogy.
Garnet Miller 
10/14/05
Divorce is a hard thing for a child to go through. It's nice to know that in addition to our earthly father, we have a heavenly father who loves us always, too! A very good article.
Julianne Jones
10/14/05
This was beautiful. I loved Julia's wisdom: why bother with the second part of the game when you already know the answer? Well done.
Val Clark
10/15/05
Out of the mouths of babes! Definietely tackled the topic in a very creative way. Puts the game in a whole new light.
Suzanne R
10/15/05
Lovely.

Just one piece of constructive critique - change 'chocked back' to 'choked back'.

You've painted a beautiful picture of hope in what is so often a very unhappy picture - beautiful.
Debbie Sickler
10/16/05
I'm going to read this to my son when he comes home from his father's house. He already loves picking flowers, and he loves Jesus, but I think this might help him realize that he is loved by Jesus and his dad, despite our divorce. Thank you for writing just the right story.
Deborah Porter 
10/18/05
Shelley, this was a sweetheart of a story and ranked 8th in the Level 2 list, so well done. You also ranked 38th overall - out of a total of 145 entries. So well done. With love, Deb (Challenge Coordinator)