Encouragement

A Worthy Evening

by Anna Osipov
08/20/22
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Another quiet sigh escaped from my lips as I gazed down into the flickering flames of our backyard campfire. As I sat in the solitude of the night with only the satisfying crackling of the fire and the distant hoot of owls to break the silence, I pulled my woolen sweater more tightly around myself and tried to relax.

Summer that year had been a very busy one for me, and at times it had been decidedly stressful. There were regrets for the past and worries for the future, with so many unanswered questions and uncertainties.

At least, tonight I had the fire all to myself. The rest of my large boisterous family had gone indoors and left the dwindling fire and chilly night to me. Surrounded by the stillness, I hoped to somehow organize my thoughts and find a few answers to the riddles of life.

With this aim in mind, I was reasonably disappointed when I heard the back door swing open and heard the unmistakable clomping of my seven-year-old brother’s muddy farm boots. My dismay grew as the clomping rapidly drew closer. By the light of the fire, I could only see a pair of sparkling brown eyes and a big smile pop around the side of the porch swing where I sat. The swing shrieked in despair as the active young body hurled itself down beside me. More accustomed to such treatment than the swing, I merely let out a groan – “Oww.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” my little brother quickly apologized, giggling. He thrust his little brown paws into my hands and put his head on my shoulder as he settled down to look at the fire. Despite my lack of enthusiasm at his appearance, his affectionate nature melted me quick enough and I smiled down at him.

“What made you come outside again?” I asked him.

“Just wanted to be with you,” was his reply, as he grinned up at me.

I chuckled. “I see. Aren’t you tired though?”

He seemed to weigh his depth of tiredness before he replied with a shrug, “Not really.”

Another look at his pleading face assured me that sending him home was useless, so I reluctantly settled down to listen to his adventures.

“You know what I found in the creek today?”

Just as I expected, his eager voice broke the silence almost immediately.

Needless to say, that evening I did not make any headway in organizing my thoughts. Neither did I have any brilliant ideas or stunning answers to life’s questions. The past remained unchanged and the future stretched before me as uncertain as ever.

But instead, as I sat by the fire that evening, I learned what it was like to catch a big bumpy toad. The joy of holding a baby bunny. Seeing fishes in the river and bald eagles in the air. I saw alluring caves in the fire and imagined myself walking inside. I learned how to fix a motor boat. For an evening, I saw the world through the eyes of a child, and suddenly, there were no worries in life. Each day was a blessing from God, brimming with opportunities and adventures to be enjoyed. Life was exciting, the sparkling brown eyes assured me, and I felt myself forgetting my troubles and determined to enjoy the blessing of every new day the Lord blessed me with. Silently, I thanked God for the little brother who gave me a worthy evening by the fire.