Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: FOLD (10/08/15)
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TITLE: Bookmarks | Previous Challenge Entry
By Francie Snell
10/15/15 -
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Familiar smells from Grama Lizzies cooking still lingered in the air with memories of sugar cookies, fresh baked bread, and laughter.
She turned and shut the door, nervously running her fingers back through her blue spiked hair. The sudden blast from the Coo-Coo Clock in the kitchen made her jump. After catching her breath, she grumbled.
"Crazy clock."
She made her way slowly into the living room. An old faded quilt was folded and draped faithfully over the wooden rocking chair as it always was. She walked to the chair and ran her fingers over a small tear in the fabric.
"You never were one to throw anything away, were you Gram?"
Feeling overwhelmed, she aimlessly began to roam around the room past shelves filled with dusty knick-knacks and assorted pictures. She came to her favorite spot and collapsed into the chair with its soft, billowy cushions laden with Gram's sweet perfume, and began to weep.
Her face contorted as her eyes filled with tears. She wiped at the dark lines streaming down her cheeks, washing down the black eyeliner thickly drawn around her eyes.
Mournfully, she called out, "What am I going to do without you Gram? You were the only one who really cared." She shuddered. "I always wanted to be like you. But you know, you were one hard act to follow. You seemed to love everyone." She paused. "I never could understand that. You definitely had something special about you."
After a moment she bitterly scoffed, "Mom sure didn't have it. Sometimes I wondered if she really was your daughter… what a piece of work."
She wiped her eyes then looked over at the book lying on the end table next to her. A thin layer of dust covered its black leather. She reached over and picked it up, and then blew on it with force.
Fine particles scattered in the air.
She opened it and gingerly flipped through its worn pages. Many of them were folded down from the upper corners with certain passages on the pages underlined.
"So these are your bookmarks huh Gram?" Joann chortled. "You were one busy lady."
Joan's thoughts swept her back to the past, to a time she remembered with Lizzie.
***
Grama Lizzie stood firmly planted with her hands on her waist. A flower print apron was tied high up over her protruding stomach. Her eyes lit up as she pointed her finger towards Joann.
"You know, little gal of mine, God loves you so much that He sent His only boy to come and fetch ya. That's right," she hollered, flailing her arms about, " to rescue you from all this MESS. No one's good enough to get to heaven on their own. That's why we ALL need Jesus!".
***
"Oh Gram," Joann reminisced with a chuckle, "you were quite the evangelist."
Joann looked over and noticed the drawer to the table beside her was slightly ajar. Curious, she reached over and pulled it open to find a single piece of brightly colored paper about two inches wide and six inches long. It was a bookmark, and on it was some small printing:
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13:
Joann felt a warmth in her heart, sensing the verse especially for her. With a new calm, she spoke.
"You always did tell me to pray, didn't you Gram. I remember that."
She slipped the bookmark into the Bible.
"Ok Gram, you might not have known it, but I always did listen to what you said. It's time for me to start - I know." She patted the book she now held to her chest.
"It looks like I have some reading to do."
She stood and looked around the room, and then started for the door.
Grama Lizzie's love had left an impression that would lead Joann to Jesus.
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