Category: short stories

Shark Teeth

On By LindaIn short stories4 Comments

Shark teeth. I don’t know how many hours I’ve spent searching among broken shell pieces at the beach over the years for these tiny treasures. It doesn’t matter. Although for most things I’m not a process person, this is one area I enjoy the process as much as the product. There’s so much peace in the search – a way to forget about everything else for a few hours – that I never regret going even when I don’t find any shark teeth.

On this particular day, I was competing with the tide so I had to look fast. Shark teeth are easiest to find at the lowest tide, and I was already an hour late getting to the beach. As I walked through the breaking waves, not finding any teeth, I sent up a quick prayer.

“Lord, would you open my eyes to see any shark teeth that are here?”

Not putting too much hope in a prayer I had prayed many times before without results, I continued on.

A little while later I found a nice sized tooth. Most of the teeth I find are really tiny, and only occasionally do I find a tooth as big as this one. Thankful for the tooth, I continued down the beach. It became harder and harder to see the shells tumbling beneath the crashing surf as the tide moved in . Giving up, I turned around to head back , this time combing through the shells at the high tide line. By the time I made it back where I had started, I had given up finding a tooth in the dry sand and decided to try the breaking waves again. Lo and behold – there was a second nice size tooth! Thrilled, I tucked the tooth in my zippered pocket with the first one. Then something made me glance up at the sky. The blue expanse ahead of me was beginning to look overcast. I turned around and stared. The sky had turned black with angry billowing rain clouds racing towards me!

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No more time to enjoy the hunt, I headed towards the place I had entered the beach. But of course, not being able to pass a pile of shells without looking for any teeth that may be hiding there, I walked with one eye on the line of shells and the other eye on the approaching storm. Hurrying to beat the rain, I didn’t really expect to find anything. But wait.. could that be? Yes! A third good size tooth! Three! It reminded me of the Trinity.

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Unbidden a thought entered my mind. “One from each of us.”

Before I had time to react, it continued, “Because we love you.”

Was that God talking to me? Or was it just my imagination? I don’t usually think of God as a Trinity. But knowing that God is God of all of me, and that He is fully capable of planting His words in my mind, I choose to believe that I received an amazing gift from Him that day.

I looked up at the sky.

“I love you, too!” I whispered. Then hurried to my car where I could enjoy the storm in safety.

Even When I’m Prickly?

On By LindaIn short stories6 Comments

She clenched her fists as she plopped down at her desk.  Forcing her body to calm down, but not able to calm her heart, she looked up at the computer screen. A week before she had set a slide show of inspirational photos on her desktop to rotate randomly. And now, as her computer turned on, the first photo caught her attention.

BE STILL AND KNOW I AM GOD

Be still? With this storm raging in me? Fat chance. Know that He is God? Sure thing. He’s out there just being God and everything is wonderful.  But wait, God is in me, too. So if He’s God over everything out there, then is He also God over everything in me? Including all this frustration that I’m feeling?

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As she considered that idea, the photo on the screen changed.

I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS

Really? Even when I feel as prickly as a porcupine and don’t want anyone near me? Even when I just want to hit something? Even when I don’t even want to be here with myself?

So if He is here as He says He is, what is He doing? Frowning at me with disapproval? Shaking His head with disappointment in my lack of self control? Waiting for me to get over it so He can come close to me again?

With her head down, she asked Him, “God, what are You doing while You’re here with me, when I’m like this?”

“Stroking your hair. Waiting with you until the frustration feeling passes. Loving you.”

Marveling at this revelation, she looked back up at the screen.

I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS

“Still here?” she asked Him.

“I’m not going anywhere. I am always with you. Whether you feel it or not. Whether you want it or not. Even when you resist because you don’t feel worthy. Even when you get angry. Even when you forget.”

“OK, I get it. You’re always with me. So how can that help me? When I get like this, how does knowing You’re here help me? I’m still frustrated.

Or is that the wrong question?”

Again the photo changed.

GOD IS GREATER THAN OUR HEARTS

She chuckled. Well, not quite a chuckle but something close. God has a sense of humor, that’s for sure. Communicating with her through these random photos? Maybe not so random after all. And she loved that He could always cut to the chase while making her smile.

“OK, so You’re greater than my heart. Greater than all the mixed emotions in there. I don’t have to worry when I can’t control my heart, my feelings, because You can. I can rest that You’ll take me through these feelings and I won’t get lost in them and have to live there forever. Yes, that was the wrong question. Focusing on me – how does that help ME, how am I feeling – doesn’t help.  Focusing on You – Your power and presence – gives me peace.”

The photo changed to a sunrise in the mountains.

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She thought about her recent trip to the mountains. The early morning peace as she watched the sunrise. The promise of a new day. And she knew He was nodding in confirmation.

She smiled, at peace both inside and outside, and grateful to the amazing God who is always with her and loves her enough to find a way to communicate with her no matter how prickly she feels.

TO YOU OH LORD I LIFT UP MY SOUL.

In the Beginning, Chapter Two

On By LindaIn short stories, Uncategorized4 Comments

She opened her front door and froze. Something wasn’t right. Her young dog was staring into the entryway, hair bristling, and growling deep in his throat. Oh no, not again, she thought. This was the third time her dog had acted spooked about going into her house after long days spent working and chauffeuring.

Was someone here? She looked as far as she could into the dark house and listened intently but saw and heard nothing.

“Someone here?” she called out.

No answer. There hadn’t been those other times either.

She slowly reached in without entering the house and turned on the light switch that was just inside the door frame. The light didn’t reveal anything out of place. But her dog was still growling and staring into the living room. That was strange. The last two times he had quit growling as soon as she had turned on the lights.

Should she leave this time? Go find someone to come back with her? No, she was an adult. She could handle this like she did the other times. She didn’t want anyone to think she was not capable of living by herself, of taking care of her problems herself.

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Heart pounding, she reached in and picked up the baseball bat she kept by the door for protection. Holding it up over her shoulder, she walked into the living room.

No one was there. And nothing appeared to be missing. However, the TV was on. Did she forget to turn it off before leaving this morning? No, that was impossible. She never turned it on in the mornings. She glanced around.  Wait. The slip cover on the couch was wrinkled like someone had been sitting there. And there was a glass on the side table with some ice melting in it. She tried to remember if she had forgotten to straighten the slip cover the night before. Regardless of whether she did or didn’t, that glass with the melting ice could not be hers. If she had forgotten to clean up before going to bed the night before, the ice would have been completely melted by now. And even if she had for some reason drunk something while watching TV that morning, it wouldn’t explain how the ice was still in there after the sixteen hours she had been gone.

Someone had been here! Maybe more than one! There hadn’t been any evidence the first two times, but this time there was. Were they still here?

She quietly made her way down the hallway to check the bedrooms and bathroom, her dog cowering behind her legs, a low growl still rumbling from his throat.

No one. The house was empty.

She turned and headed back to the living room, relaxing a little bit as her dog stopped growling. She checked that the doors were locked. They were, and the chain lock was still in place on the back door. So if they had been there, how did they get out?

Puzzling over who could have been there, no longer able to dismiss it as her imagination, and her nerves too frazzled to stay up, she decided to go to bed. She climbed in, pulled the covers over her head, and willed herself to escape into sleep.

Faking It

On By LindaIn short stories, Uncategorized4 Comments

She had a friend. He declared his love to her at a time she was incapable of returning it. Although he left, they stayed in touch.

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“I’m going to win her,” he thought

“I’m glad he’s gone,” she thought.

Over the next year she began writing to him about her new experiences with Jesus.

If I pretend to be a Christian, she’ll want me, he thought.

“Hey, I’ve started going to church, too!” he wrote her.

“That’s wonderful,” she responded.

I need more, he thought.

“I’ve started going to Bible study,” he wrote her.

“That’s great,” she responded.

Hmmm, he thought. What else? Maybe I really do need to go to church so I can give her more details. So he started attending a local church and they began writing about what they were learning from their respective churches.

“Hey! Guess what?” he wrote her one day after several months. “I got saved last night!”

“I thought you already were,” she wrote back.

“I just told you than because I thought it might make you want me. But the pretending became real! I guess all that church rubbed off on me!” he wrote.

“That’s awesome!” she wrote back and rejoiced with him in his new life.  His desire for her was replaced with a desire for Jesus – and they were both happy.

From faking it to win her heart,

his heart was won by God instead.

 

How amazing is that!