Long ago, in a world far away, there lived a lonely maiden. Or at least, she was this day. But she was not only lonely, she was also tremendously sad. Her soft, brown curls dripped with rain as she ran into her castle. As she forced her way through the enormous wooden doors she crumbled to her knees putting her face in her hands. Tears fell through her fingers making small pools on her crimson dress.
Lightning flashed outside the door sending gloomy shadows over the hard stone floor. Stumbling to her feet, she slowly crawled up the dark, silent staircase in front of her. At the top of this staircase was her secret hall. The hall where all her dreams gathered and were stored until they could be fulfilled. Unfortunately, there was not much left in her hall of dreams.
When she reached the top of the stairs her eyes gazed at the all too familiar, large silver door covered with the most intricate swirling engravery. Taking a simple metal key out of her dress pocket she slid it into the lock and opened the door. There was not much light in her hallway, a few candles here and there made it so that you could see the paintings hanging on the stately walls.
The maiden always felt comfortable in the candlelight, it seemed to always make her calm and happy. But not today, today those candles seemed as though they were being used for a funeral. She walked into the entryway and closed the silver door with a hollow thud behind her. Gliding slowly down the hall her tears seemed to fall from her deep green eyes with even greater intensity as she stared at the paintings. Before, they had been some of the most beautiful paintings she had ever seen, now that had changed. At the beginning of the hallway most of the paintings were gold framed with diamonds around the edges. The paintings themselves were small, bright and colorful and full of joy. These dreams had already been fulfilled and a small smile creeped about her face through her tears as she remembered them.
The middle paintings of the hallway were still full of life and color but many of them had lost their glow or the glass had been shattered. These paintings were much larger and there were fewer of them lining the walls because of this. The last of the hallway was covered with some of the most elaborate, and newest paintings she had added to her hallway. They had been crammed in almost any place she could put them and were truly works of art. Yet, almost all of the paintings, especially those near the top, had been shattered and cracked. Their frames no longer holding the glimmer of silver or gold. and the color of the paintings scarred with the small glass fragments.
Sobbing, she stared at her shattered paintings with a broken heart. She had wanted so much for these paintings to be fulfilled, more than any she had ever discovered.
Remembering those paintings and what they used to be tore at her inside. There seemed to be no more room for any more paintings on her walls and she did not know what to do. Picking up pieces of glass that had fallen to the stone floor she stared at them glimmering in the candlelight. Disgusted, she tossed them to the floor and flew out the back door onto a small covered balcony. The storm had passed now and rays of sun were starting to peek through the clouds. She almost didn’t notice the gentle eyes of a tall man staring at her until she turned to go back inside. Frightened she backed away to the other side of balcony keeping her eyes on the ground.
Finally, through little glimpses, she had recognized this man as her Father. She was almost too ashamed to look Him in the eyes. Yet, he seemed to be drawing her to Him. She cautiously made her way closer and forced herself to look into His face. He did not say a word, but just looked at her with the gentleness and compassion she saw in his eyes. He slowly wrapped His arms around her and she gladly rested her head on His chest. Her tears made streams down His white shirt as he caressed her head.
Somehow, she now knew everything would be all right. Yes, some of her paintings were gone forever. But she now realized that her future was in her Father’s hands, and that he had beautiful paintings for her that she didn’t even know about. All she had to do was trust...trust her Father...and everything would be all right.
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