My friend Amy’s 10 year old daughter wrote a story for a school assignment. The assignment was to write from the perspective of a raindrop, falling in Yellowstone National Park and journeying to the Gulf of Mexico. Her daughter wrote, instead, from the perspective of a tear..
The Story Of A Tear
By Janelle Spiers
I am a tear. I am a tear welling up in the eye of a girl. She has just gotten word that a loved one is in Haiti. In Haiti, a terrible earthquake has destroyed everything.
I will now begin my journey; it is a journey of sorrow and a journey of hope. As I trickle down her cheek she leans over to say a prayer, and I fall into Yellowstone Lake.
When I fall into the water, I start to sparkle out among the fern. All around me I can see beauty and the evidence of a living God. I think about these things as I make my way out of the lake and into the river.
Days later I reach Yellowstone River. I’m in Montana, which is the name of a popular hotel in Haiti, where many people were trapped. God knows each one by name, and He has not forgotten them.
I go through Lake Sakakawea, the Missouri river, through Lake Oahe and back into the Missouri. I head into Kansas City and join the big, roaring Mississippi river. The roar causes me to think of the people crying out in pain. I shudder at the thought. So many people died. So many loved ones lost - so much agony, suffering, and pain. How can they go on unless they have hope – hope in the One who can turn ashes into beauty. I share their sorrow, and like them I must go on.
I sail down the Mississippi River all the way down to New Orleans. Suddenly, I think about hurricane Katrina, which devastated this city just five years ago. How terrible it was! I realize that the people here are moving beyond their grief and on with life. They’re rebuilding their lives and regaining hope!
I make a sudden sally through the delta and I chatter as I flow right into the Gulf of Mexico!
But my journey doesn’t end here. I make my way toward Haiti to share my grief but also my hopes; hopes for the people too not only survive but to thrive.
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous
Right hand.
Isaiah 41:10
By Janelle Spiers
I am a tear. I am a tear welling up in the eye of a girl. She has just gotten word that a loved one is in Haiti. In Haiti, a terrible earthquake has destroyed everything.
I will now begin my journey; it is a journey of sorrow and a journey of hope. As I trickle down her cheek she leans over to say a prayer, and I fall into Yellowstone Lake.
When I fall into the water, I start to sparkle out among the fern. All around me I can see beauty and the evidence of a living God. I think about these things as I make my way out of the lake and into the river.
Days later I reach Yellowstone River. I’m in Montana, which is the name of a popular hotel in Haiti, where many people were trapped. God knows each one by name, and He has not forgotten them.
I go through Lake Sakakawea, the Missouri river, through Lake Oahe and back into the Missouri. I head into Kansas City and join the big, roaring Mississippi river. The roar causes me to think of the people crying out in pain. I shudder at the thought. So many people died. So many loved ones lost - so much agony, suffering, and pain. How can they go on unless they have hope – hope in the One who can turn ashes into beauty. I share their sorrow, and like them I must go on.
I sail down the Mississippi River all the way down to New Orleans. Suddenly, I think about hurricane Katrina, which devastated this city just five years ago. How terrible it was! I realize that the people here are moving beyond their grief and on with life. They’re rebuilding their lives and regaining hope!
I make a sudden sally through the delta and I chatter as I flow right into the Gulf of Mexico!
But my journey doesn’t end here. I make my way toward Haiti to share my grief but also my hopes; hopes for the people too not only survive but to thrive.
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous
Right hand.
Isaiah 41:10
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