By Elisa Enns
It was early, very early, in the morning in the old schoolhouse’s dark, never-used storage room. Actually, without much experience, you couldn’t tell if the sun was up yet.
But the wise old scroll had much experience.
”Get up, everyone!” he called. “Paper! Pens! Typewriter! Slates!”
They also had experience. They know that the earlier they wake up, the more they’d get accomplished.
The slates jumped off the bottom shelf and climbed up the table, meeting the typewriter who was already there. The whole pack of paper flew off one by one from their neat pile, compared to the messy shelf, and floated to the table. And on the last pieces of paper sat the pens. Finally the old scroll hopped on and joined them. They were on another mission.
The old scroll waited a few silent moments.
“Why do we exist?” he finally asked.
“Because we have a purpose!” everyone chanted.
“Therefore, we should do as much as we can while we’re still here,” the scroll continued. He waited another few moments and then finally nodded.
Immediately, everyone got to work. The typewriters typed the long verses, and the pens wrote the short verses. The paper divided into two groups. One for the typewriter and one for the pens. And the slates, who spent all day around the students of that school and were for that reason made messengers, gave advice of what to write.
“Proverbs 18:24 would be a good verse for Jason. He’s often lonely and brings it out on others,” suggested a slate.
The pens wrote: “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly. Proverbs 18:24”
“And Ernie seems kinda lazy,” said a shy slate.
“Go to the ant you sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Proverbs 6:6”
“Emily has some friendship problems,” reported another slate.
“And Haley seems too scared to show her feelings,” said another.
To Emily, “A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17”
To Haley, “Jesus wept. John 11:35”
The typewriter was getting lots of advice too.
To Linda, who likes to do big things, he wrote, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much; and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much, Luke 16:10”
To Breck, the bully, he wrote, “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. Luke 6:31.”
And to the teacher he wrote, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the LORD. Colossians 3:16”
Soon the busiest part of the day was over. The slates raced to the desks and the messages floated neatly onto the desks.
The mission was over for the day. They did their best, so God would do the rest. RR