"Musing" #3 - Story

Hello, friends! Another "Musing" for you, this one (once again) a short story. (LOL) Like I told you last week, you'll be getting a nice flood of these "short stories." Enjoy! 

All for Christ

Eleven-year-old Emma clutched her papers and swallowed hard. This had been a dreaded moment. Her pulse quickened, and her stomach clenched. Her lips moved slowly as she mouthed her part of the Christmas pageant.

           Why, oh why, did Miss Cleaver choose me to be Mary’s cousin Elizabeth?
           She tried to tell herself that she had no reason to worry. She’d practiced her lines over and over again. She could say them in her sleep. But…
          What if I forget them suddenly? Horrid thought! Emma’s cheeks flushed just thinking about it. 

            Sweat oozed from her palms and soaked the papers she held. The sheets of paper were lined with the quotes “Elizabeth” was supposed to say…in front of all those people.

          “Emma, you all right?”
          Emma, already a nervous wreck, jumped at her sister’s soft-spoken question. She sucked in a deep breath and swung around. “I-I’m fine.”
          Charlene was one of the older students, so she’d requested not to be part of the Christmas pageant this year. However, after Fred Morris came down sick, Miss Cleaver had hired Charlene quick as a wink to be a “substitute shepherd boy.”
          This was Emma’s first time seeing her sister in her full costume, and Charlene looked quite comical. She was dressed in a long robe and sandals. All of her pretty, dark hair was shoved up into a raggedy head covering.
          Quite a difference from all these previous years, when Miss Cleaver always asked Charlene to be Mary or Elizabeth, Emma thought. She giggled softly. The butterflies in her stomach lessened their fluttering. “Thanks for helping me feel better,” she whispered.
          Charlene’s eyebrows rose high. “Huh?”
          “Never mind.” Emma waved her hand, and in so doing dropped one of her sheets of paper.
          Charlene knelt to grab it. Her eyes grew big. “Emma, this sheet is saturated.” She stood and handed the paper over, then wiped her hand on her robe. “What’s all that water from?”
         Emma bit her lip and showed her sister one of her palms. “I’m all sweaty.”
        “I’ll say.” Charlene shook her head and fixed her hazel gaze on her little sister. “What’s wrong?”
        “Well…” Emma ducked her head and said in a barely audible whisper, “I’m scared of going out there, Charlene. What if I botch my lines and everyone laughs at me?”
        For a moment, Charlene was silent. Emma kept her head down. The toe of her shoe traced a pattern on the floor. From behind the curtain, Carrie Onstrong’s voice could be heard, loud and clear, as she repeated The Magnificat.
        Emma’s fingers went back to clenching her papers. “Mary” is about to go visit “Elizabeth.” That means it’s almost to my part. Can I really do this? She shuddered. Carrie sounds so lovely. I’m sure there’s no way I could ever speak so—
       “Emma, look at me.”

        Emma raised her head. Her brown eyes locked with her sister’s hazel ones. “Yes?”
       “I want you to promise me something.”
      Emma swallowed. “What?”
      “When you go out there, I want you to pretend there is no one watching you. No one but Jesus. Can you do that?”

       Emma immediately understood what her sister was talking about. When I try to “people-please,” I turn into something I’m not, and I work myself into a dither for no reason at all. But if I want to serve Jesus, and focus only on bringing Him glory, I need to be me. I need to stop caring about what others think and focus my thoughts on Jesus. God didn’t make me like Carrie, or like Charlene, or like anybody! He made me in His Image, for His glory. I need to go out there and give it my all. For Jesus.
      She nodded at Charlene. “Yes, I can do that. I can be Christ’s servant, not man’s.”
      Emma breathed deep. Carrie finished her last line, and Emma stepped out from behind the curtain.
      She would do this.
      For Jesus.

           

“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” GALATIANS 1:10

p.s. So I won't be leaving anyone hanging, I'll tell you that Emma kept her thoughts focused on Jesus. The pageant went just as her Savior wanted it to, and she left with a peaceful heart and a confident soul. Charlene later told her, "You were marvelous, sister," and Emma knew her sister meant that compliment in more ways than one.


~Ellen