The Work of the Lord

This is an excerpt of a longer piece that is in the process of being revised...



“M-M-Maggie?” he stammered, suddenly aware that he was trembling; quaking with fear and uncertainty. He took a brief glance at the bourbon, then back at the approaching figure. No amount of faith was going to convince him that any of this was real or even possible – certainly he was still passed out somewhere as a result of last night’s prodigious imbibing.

“Yes, Christopher – and regardless of your level of faith at the moment, this IS absolutely possible. After all, as you so often state at the end of your sermons, all things are truly possible with our God.”

The voice paused briefly, the figure outline still approaching slowly.

“Now REAL, that is another question – one man’s reality is often another’s fantasy.”

“So then what exactly is going on here? Am I dreaming, or just losing my mind?” cried the pastor, his voice shaking.

The voice laughed softly. “Aren’t they kind of the same thing?  Dreaming, along with thinking, praying, and reflecting – all also ways you can temporarily ‘lose your mind’; at least the conscious part. Unspoken communication with our Lord can take many forms – including the times you’re not even intentionally speaking to Him.”

“I don’t get it,” he whispered, shaking his head.

“Well, you’ve often professed that God is within us all.  Is that not true?”

Christopher snapped, “Fine, so you’re saying they’re all different ways for God to speak to me. Doesn’t exactly answer the question I asked. But if you don’t want to answer that, maybe you can explain how I still have no idea why our oh-so-wonderful Creator took you away from me!”

“Oh silly, you already know that – you did tell the congregation about the loss of their ‘beloved choir leader, your wife Margaret’. Remember?” the voice chided.

“Oh c’mon, Maggie – 'God needed someone with her beautiful soul to assist Him with his work in heaven' – that’s the kind of thing we tell ourselves to try to feel better about loss! You don’t actually think I believed that line of crap, do you?”

The voice was silent a moment before replying, “Well, I guess we’re back to that tricky reality issue, aren’t we?”