Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Prosperity (05/11/06)
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TITLE: Desires of the Heart | Previous Challenge Entry
By Van Burbach
05/18/06 -
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He ran his fingers through his thinning hair and wondered how it had come to this. After twenty years as a copywriter for the fastest growing advertising firm in the state, he had nothing. He had worked hard and made a real contribution to the firm’s success. He had put up with the hard-driving boss and the sniping co-workers. He had watched younger writers get promoted above him, not because they were better writers but because they were better salesmen. The merger and the layoffs came unexpectedly. Now all he had were bills and rejections.
The old voice was still there, screaming the same old lies and accusations: “you’re a loser; you’ll never amount to anything; nobody wants you.” That voice had been there at every negative turn in his life, but something was different this time around. There was another voice now, a soft, quiet voice that simply whispered “do you trust me?”
Anger rattled his brain. “Didn’t you promise prosperity to those who love you? Where is it? Why haven’t you come through?” The thoughts screamed inside him, but somehow, the quiet voice was louder: “Were you prospering in your old job?”
“I made a decent salary and my family was well fed. We were a lot better off than we are now.” The answer sounded hollow. He knew that wasn’t what he’d been asked.
“What about your heart - was it prospering? Did your old job fulfill the desires of your heart?”
“No,” he had to admit. “My heart is dead, it has no desires.”
“You used to have dreams. What happened?”
“I used to dream of writing novels, short fiction, or children’s stories. Then writing became just a job, something I did to feed my children and keep a roof over our heads. I gave up dreaming and started fantasizing - you know, a new house, a fast car, more money.”
“How did that feel?”
“While I had a secure job, I felt full but unsatisfied. Now that it’s gone, I just feel empty.”
“I gave you the desires of your heart. I put them in you but you gave them away. You traded your dreams for the false realities of life and the desires of your heart for the lusts of the world.”
“I know, I know. I’m sorry, Lord. Can you ever forgive me?”
“I already have, child, but because I love you, I want more for you. I long to give you back your dreams, but your heart was so full of other things that I couldn’t. I needed to empty you before I could fill you. This is what this has been about. Are you ready, now, to be filled?”
He looked up. He was standing at his own front door. Twenty steps across his yard. Twenty years to find his heart. He was home. The door opened and a little girl jumped into his arms. “I’ve been waiting for you, Daddy. Will you tell me a story now? You tell the best stories!”
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