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"Laura's Heart" part one
By: Christina Banks
Laura watched the children playing together on the floor. Blocks, cars and a farm complete with pigs, cows, sheep and a tractor graced the front rug. Two girls were coloring pictures at a table at the side of the room while three children worked at the puzzles placed at another table. It was the first day of preschool and there was an air of excitement in the room. A small group of parents congregated near the door almost reluctant to leave their little ones for even a few hours. The program director assured the parents that their children were in good hands, ushering them from the room.
Laura reviewed the names of the children over in her mind, trying to remember without looking at their name tags. She was the head teacher at the preschool. Knowing the children by name was one of her top priorities for the week. As she looked over the classroom her mind began to wander. She was old enough that some of these children could be her own. Lord, help me to be content in place that you have put me, she prayed.
“A penny for your thoughts.”
Laura smiled as she turned to her co-worker and good friend. “They’re cute aren’t they?” she said pointing at the children.
April laughed and sat down with her cup of coffee at the child sized table in the corner of the room. “And you want some of your own?”
“Am I that obvious?”
The older woman grinned. “I can read you like a book. So what are you doing about it?”
“Not a lot I can do about it,” Laura said, shaking her head. “I can’t think of having children until I am married. You know that I have never even had a boy friend. Here I am, going to be turning twenty-six in only a few days and I don’t have a hope in sight that I will ever get to enjoy having a family of my own. It is so discouraging. I went to Bible College for too many years to count and never once went to any event with someone of the opposite gender. I have only been on two dates in my life and that was almost five years ago. This is not how I imagined things would be. I am going to die an old maid.”
“Then do something about it.”
“I’m not like that.” Laura said with conviction. “If God wants me to get married, He will bring me the right guy. I will just wait until that happens.”
“Why do you work here?” April said, seeming to change the subject.
“Because I love children, and I love to see their faces when a new idea finally clicks.”
“And why did you take on the second job at the office last winter? Did you do it because you want to be a secretary?”
“No. You know that I hate to talk on the phone! I took the other job to help pay off my student loan faster.”
“Don’t you think that God could just give you money enough for your student loan?”
“Of course I do, but at the same time it would be highly irresponsible for me to sit around and wait for God to just drop the money in my lap when I could be doing something about it.”
April smirked. “You’re a hypocrite, you know that right?”
“What are you talking about?” Laura was flabbergasted. No one had seriously called her a hypocrite before. She couldn’t see where the comment had come from.
“You are working your fingers to the bone trying to pay off your debt. You say that it would be irresponsible for you to act any other way. Yet, in the area of your love life you see no problem with sitting on your hands and letting God do all the work. Talk about being double minded.”
“April, I see what you are saying, but what can I do? There are no single guys in my church, and I am not going to start flirting with everything in pants just to ‘do something about it’.”
“Well, if you don’t do anything about it, you don’t have any right to complain about it. Here’s the deal. I will give you one month to do something about this little ‘problem’ of yours. If you don’t do something by the end of the month I am going to drag you to every singles event in Michigan.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Oh, try me!”
Laura knew there was no getting around April. She had proved that in the past. This was no idle threat. “What do you suggest?”
April smiled victoriously. “I will give you three options. You can go to some big church’s singles event or do the bar scene or give E-harmony a try. I will be checking up on you.”
“I know. I’ll do something.” It was obvious that the bar was out of the question. The other two ideas didn’t sound too tempting either. Lord, you know how I have longed for a husband. You know that I had my life all planned out. I was going to be married by twenty-two and start a family by twenty-four. Nothing has turned out like I planned. I know that you are enough for me. I can be content if you want me to be single all of my life. But, Lord, if you wanted me single why do I desire a family so much?
Laura thought about the challenge that April had given her for the rest of the day. The idea of going to a singles event where she knew no one scared Laura a lot. She had never been very good in social settings and going to a place where she didn’t know a soul, did not sound appealing, but to put herself on-line where she couldn’t even see the person that she was talking to didn’t seem like such a great idea either. Two days later when April asked her how her plans were coming, Laura knew that she had to do something or April would hound her for the rest of her life. She decided that she would join E-harmony just to prove that it wouldn’t work.
Laura reviewed the names of the children over in her mind, trying to remember without looking at their name tags. She was the head teacher at the preschool. Knowing the children by name was one of her top priorities for the week. As she looked over the classroom her mind began to wander. She was old enough that some of these children could be her own. Lord, help me to be content in place that you have put me, she prayed.
“A penny for your thoughts.”
Laura smiled as she turned to her co-worker and good friend. “They’re cute aren’t they?” she said pointing at the children.
April laughed and sat down with her cup of coffee at the child sized table in the corner of the room. “And you want some of your own?”
“Am I that obvious?”
The older woman grinned. “I can read you like a book. So what are you doing about it?”
“Not a lot I can do about it,” Laura said, shaking her head. “I can’t think of having children until I am married. You know that I have never even had a boy friend. Here I am, going to be turning twenty-six in only a few days and I don’t have a hope in sight that I will ever get to enjoy having a family of my own. It is so discouraging. I went to Bible College for too many years to count and never once went to any event with someone of the opposite gender. I have only been on two dates in my life and that was almost five years ago. This is not how I imagined things would be. I am going to die an old maid.”
“Then do something about it.”
“I’m not like that.” Laura said with conviction. “If God wants me to get married, He will bring me the right guy. I will just wait until that happens.”
“Why do you work here?” April said, seeming to change the subject.
“Because I love children, and I love to see their faces when a new idea finally clicks.”
“And why did you take on the second job at the office last winter? Did you do it because you want to be a secretary?”
“No. You know that I hate to talk on the phone! I took the other job to help pay off my student loan faster.”
“Don’t you think that God could just give you money enough for your student loan?”
“Of course I do, but at the same time it would be highly irresponsible for me to sit around and wait for God to just drop the money in my lap when I could be doing something about it.”
April smirked. “You’re a hypocrite, you know that right?”
“What are you talking about?” Laura was flabbergasted. No one had seriously called her a hypocrite before. She couldn’t see where the comment had come from.
“You are working your fingers to the bone trying to pay off your debt. You say that it would be irresponsible for you to act any other way. Yet, in the area of your love life you see no problem with sitting on your hands and letting God do all the work. Talk about being double minded.”
“April, I see what you are saying, but what can I do? There are no single guys in my church, and I am not going to start flirting with everything in pants just to ‘do something about it’.”
“Well, if you don’t do anything about it, you don’t have any right to complain about it. Here’s the deal. I will give you one month to do something about this little ‘problem’ of yours. If you don’t do something by the end of the month I am going to drag you to every singles event in Michigan.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Oh, try me!”
Laura knew there was no getting around April. She had proved that in the past. This was no idle threat. “What do you suggest?”
April smiled victoriously. “I will give you three options. You can go to some big church’s singles event or do the bar scene or give E-harmony a try. I will be checking up on you.”
“I know. I’ll do something.” It was obvious that the bar was out of the question. The other two ideas didn’t sound too tempting either. Lord, you know how I have longed for a husband. You know that I had my life all planned out. I was going to be married by twenty-two and start a family by twenty-four. Nothing has turned out like I planned. I know that you are enough for me. I can be content if you want me to be single all of my life. But, Lord, if you wanted me single why do I desire a family so much?
Laura thought about the challenge that April had given her for the rest of the day. The idea of going to a singles event where she knew no one scared Laura a lot. She had never been very good in social settings and going to a place where she didn’t know a soul, did not sound appealing, but to put herself on-line where she couldn’t even see the person that she was talking to didn’t seem like such a great idea either. Two days later when April asked her how her plans were coming, Laura knew that she had to do something or April would hound her for the rest of her life. She decided that she would join E-harmony just to prove that it wouldn’t work.
7 comments:
Cute story! Is there more to it or is that it?
Uh oh...the plot thickens! Is the second installment coming up in next week's FF?! You've got me rooting for April already. (:
Ohh - I'm hooked! You'd BETTER have the next part ready for next Friday. (ya hear me??? LOL) Great characters!
Oooh, go Laura, go Laura! Is there a part 2? Please say yes, please??? This is great! I loved it!
Oh the joys and sorrows of finding that "one" to marry. Can't wait until next week--there will be a next week, right? I mean, you can't just let her join E-harmony then leave me hang. How will it work out? Will she find her match? Will God step in and surprise everyone? Hmmm...
thank you for putting part one in the title, otherwise I would have been so mad! I look forward to reading more.
There's so much truth in this. I've always believed that even with God wanting us to have [fill in the blank], He expects us to be proactive about it. That's what our agency is all about.
Go, Laura!
Now, for Part 2...
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