Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD (07/23/20)
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TITLE: The Stumble | Previous Challenge Entry
By Verna Cole Mitchell
07/25/20 -
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Today was the Bible recitation contest,
And so well prepared was I,
That nothing could go wrong.
I’d practiced daily to memorize
Selected verses in John 15
With wondrous encouragement
Till I could say them faultlessly,
And I’d worked on presentation,
Striving to make sure every word
Could be heard distinctly.
I’d even placed in my mind,
A picture of a vine with plump figs
Clinging to its branches.
When my turn came,
I stepped up to the podium,
Assured and confident.
Smiling at the audience,
I began with a clear voice,
“I am the true vine,
And my Father is the husbandman.”
On I continued, steady and strong,
Practice proving its worth.
Then all at once, the words
I had dropped into my mind
Tumbled away beyond my reach
And drifted out of sight,
While the picture I’d stored there
Faded without a trace.
My memory was as dark
As a moonless night.
The audience before me
Was a barrel of open-mouthed fish.
Then out of the depths of nothingness,
I heard, like a foghorn to the rescue,
A word—and not just any word,
But the very one I needed
To reawaken my senses,
And the rest of the words fell into place,
Like soldiers following their leader.
I continued without pause to the end,
Though not with the same poise
With which I had begun.
The audience heaved a sigh,
With not one greater than my own.
I shall never forget the day
I put my best foot forward
And stumbled into darkness.
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