Everyone at school avoids Jazzi. Her long brown hair would be pretty, if she combed and shampooed it once in a while. Besides that she smells funny and talks slowly and she has a lisp so that everything she says thounth like thith. Between the lisp and the fact that no one talks to her, she is a girl of few words.
At lunch and recess she sat alone. If anyone did sit with her it was only to make comments like"When was your last bath!" or "Doesn't your mom ever comb your hair?". Through it all Jazzi never cried, at least not at school.
One day Reuben, who was quiet and clean, sat down at his desk next to Jazzi's and discovered that his favorite pencil was missing. He never really gave much attention to her, but when Reuben looked around for his pencil he discovered that it was in Jazzi's hand! Reuben was so upset! He wanted to stand up and yell that she had taken it, but the teacher was already speaking. Reuben seethed through most of the class, but by the end he had calmed down.
At recess Reuben found Jazzi at her usual spot, alone on the swing set. When Reuben accused her of taking his pencil, she only smiled a crooked smile and swung higher.
That night Reuben frantically told his parents what had happened and wanted to know what he should do about it. Knowing of Gods love they gave him an answer he did not want to hear. Tossing and turning in bed that night he thought about what his parents had told him. He was supposed to forgive Jazzi for taking the pencil, let her keep it, and pray for her! "How?" was his only thought. Finally he had crafted a plan, said a prayer for her, and drifted off to sleep.
The next day as everyone was putting their coats and bags away, Reuben put a gift on Jazzi's desk. Reuben watched as she carelessly threw the small gift in her desk. Shocked and hurt he avoided Jazzi all day. That night Reuben angrily told his parents what she had done with his gift. They reminded him tat God's love is patient and so should our love be. That night, and every night for about the next week, he prayed for Jazzi. He also placed a small gift, same shape and size at her desk every day. Every day she tossed it in her desk.
Finally, at the end of the longest week of Reuben's life, Jazzi found Reuben on the tire swing at recess. "Why?" was all she said. Caught off guard Reuben stammered out that he had forgiven her and was trying to be her friend. "Thank you" is all she had time to say as the bell ran for them to go back in. They didn't talk the rest of the day, but Reuben felt something he didn't expect, peace. That night he excitedly told his parents about their small, but important, conversation. Reuben and his parents agreed that it would be alright for him to invite her over sometime.
The weekend passed and on Monday Reuben saw that Jazzi was using one of his gifts, a pink and purple pencil. All of his gifts had been pencils. On his desk he found his favorite orange pencil. At recess, Reuben asked Jazzi if she would like to come over to is house on Saturday. With her crooked smile her only reply was "yeth.". Jazzi and Reuben became quick friends even though Reuben's friends gave him a hard time.
She became a regular fixture at Reuben's home, and started attending church with them. It took a few weeks, but Jazzi came out of her shell. Reuben and his family learned that Jazzi ad her dad lived alone. He worked two jobs to keep them going, so she was home alone a lot of the time. Reuben's mom taught Jazzi how to care for her hair, bathe, and clean her clothes. Jazzi's mom had been gone since before Jazzi could remember so she didn't know how to do these things. Jazzi's dad noticed the changes in his daughter. She was talking more, even if it was still slowly. She was smiling more, and looked clean! Curious to know how this happened and why, he started coming by Reuben's home too. Pretty soon he was going to church with Jazzi and Reuben's family . When school let out for the summer, Jazzi and Reuben's family spent a lot of time together. They had cook outs and camping trips and went to the summer fair together. When Jazzi's dad was not working, he would come too. It was about the end of summer when Jazzi and her dad accepted Jesus as their Savior and were baptized. All of this, thanks to Reuben and his family showing Jazzi and her dad God's kind of love.
No comments:
Post a Comment