365 Days (Part 1) | ✓

32. Rewrite a Poem

32. Rewrite a Poem: Take any poem or short story you find anywhere. Rewrite it in your own words.

A/N: Today's the first day of February! One month down, eleven to go.

Charles was nearing the end of his life, tipping precariously between this world and the next and hooked up to a dozen or so hospital machines to prove it. One night, as he was laying almost immobile in bed, with only the speckled tiles of Chicago Presbyterian to distract him, he fell into a deep sleep. It was the restful, completely peaceful sort of slumber that you experience often as a child, and only infrequently as an adult. It was the sleep of someone who knew he was cared for.

An unusual dream accompanied this dream. Charles dreamt he was at a beach, with small waves rushing to shore and lapping against the pristine shore with their emerald colors. He was walking along just above the water line, upon soft sand that looked untouched. It was not completely flat: the sand formed small hills that readily accepted Charles' bare footprint.

He was dressed loosely in khakis and a solid-colored t-shirt, which was exactly the sort of thing he would wear to the beach. This uncumbersome outfit would allow him to jump and dance with ease. Funnily enough, Charles felt like he could do just that. His limbs felt strong and limber again, like they had when he was thirty years old. He had no small aches in his joints when he walked or any feeling of fatigue. He felt energized and fresh.

This was enough to make a once-active, ninety year old, dying man quite happy enough, but Charles did not pay much attention to it, because there was something that gave him far greater joy:

Walking at his side was the Lord.

Charles did not question that God would walk beside him or that He would appear in His dreams. Having walked with the Lord his entire life, Charles did not think it very strange that he would walk beside the Lord in a more material sense. No, Charles was not surprised, but he was filled with inexpressible joy.

Across the sky flashed scenes of Charles life. As the two walked, Charles watched the sky like it was a movie. He smiled to see each of his children and grandchildren's birth, and cried at every death. He could not resist laughing at the happy moments spent with his friends and his family, but he grew somber when he had to relive his hardships.

It did not feel like a long time, but after had Charles watched through his life, he stopped and reflected over it. As he looked back over the stretch upon the beach where he and the Lord walked, he understood something. The footprints on the sand corresponded to each of the scenes of life that had been shown across the sky at the time.

As he stared at their tracks, he noticed something else, and this disturbed him. He realized that at the moments his life was the hardest -- in sorrow and stress and trouble -- there were only one set of footprints. He had walked alone.

Charles looked at the Lord. He said to Him, "Lord, I do not understand. I have followed You and loved You all my life, from when I was a small boy. You told me You would never leave my side or be away from me. You told me You would always be there. Yet I see that at the times when my life was the hardest, there are only one sets of footprints. Why, Lord?"

The Lord replied, "My precious, precious child. I love you and I would never forsake you. At the times when your life was the hardest, it was then that I carried you."