Grace, By the grace of God-Fiction
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The 6 year old girl lay in the hospital bed. Her beautiful blond hair was a memory of the past. Her big blue eyes were not quite as bright as they once were. Her heartwarming smile did not come nearly often enough anymore.
At her bedside was her exhausted mother, blond hair in a ponytail, blues eyes reddened from all the tears she has cried, and worry lines wrinkled her brow.
They had a chat this day.
"Mommy, what will it be like when I die?" asked Grace.
"Well Grace," She began as she desperately tried to choke back the pain in her heart, " when little girls die, they go to be with God, and help him take care of all the little kittens and puppies that have come to be with him." "Sometimes God has a baby he needs help tending to, and sometimes he needs help with the birds and butterflies."
Grace's eyes got a little brighter. She loved kittens, and puppies, and birds, and butterflies, and babies. "That will be nice," she said. "Will I still be able to talk to you Mommy?"
This time Carolyn could not contain the tears any longer. She bent her head down and just sobbed for a moment. Grace rubbed her Mommy's hair, "Mommy?"
Carolyn regained her composure and answered her daughter's question as best as she could. "Grace, when you go to visit God, we will not be able to talk like we do now. I will talk to you, and you can hear me. You will be an angel though, and angels do not talk the same way people do. You will be able to talk to me in other ways."
"In what ways Mommy?"
"I'm not sure sweetheart. We will both have to wait and find out. But I know God will not keep us apart. You will always have your Mommy, and Mommy will always have you, somehow. God will see to it."
Grace smiled one last time and closed her beautiful blue eyes.
Carolyn kissed her baby's forehead, and broke down and sobbed. She asked God to please let her keep her baby, somehow.
The days ahead were extremely tough. Grace's favorite color was pink, just like so many of the little 6 year old girls in Grace's class at school.
Carolyn picked out a light pink casket, with satin and lace on the inside. She took Grace's favorite butterfly pillow from home, which of course was pink, for her little head to lay on. She also took Grace's favorite "Bunny", her most cherished of all stuffed animal, to lay beside her.
"I hope you like this one Gracie Baby," she said aloud. At that moment, birdsong filled the air coming in from the opened window she had not noticed before. She wondered if this was Grace's way of telling her it was good.
The funeral was graveside, and it was a fitting day. Cloudy and drab for late April. The service was as beautiful as one could be for the funeral of one's daughter. Afterwards, when they lowered the casket into the ground, Carolyn sobbed uncontrollably. "God, Please take care of my baby! Please make her happy!" she loudly cried.
At that very moment, The sky cleared. The sun shone on some nearby honeysuckle covered with beautiful butterflies. Birds began chirping the happiest song Carolyn had ever heard. She heard puppies yipping in the distance. She knew at that moment that Grace was happy. She had made up all of that stuff in the hospital room. Carolyn had no idea what it was like to be dead. She told her daughter what she thought Grace would like. Carolyn knew now, that Heaven must be unique for each person, and the Heaven she earlier described for Grace, was in fact Grace's Heaven.
Not a day goes by now that Carolyn doesn't hear her daughter's voice in a birdsong, or kitten's meow, or babies laugh. She sees her happiness in the beautiful butterflies.
Cancer had taken Grace from Carolyn, but Grace lives on in Carolyn's heart, by the Grace of God.
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I certainly will, and thank you.
Merlin, I really do appreciate your comment. Growing up in "the Bible Belt", I never even considered one's point of view, not believing in God. I too think I would still lie, but as you said, What would that lie be? It is all the matter of comforting the child. I do believe in God tho, and feel that he works in mysterious ways. However, you have shown me to be aware of many points of view, and thus appeal to greater audiences. Thank you.
When you write it is always important to write from the heart and this you have done. The subject is important too but in essence you want to carry the reader along with you and you managed to do this.
Irrespective of personal beliefs you must be able reach out and touch the reader and make them think and you did this beautifully.
Now, this is a statement from a non believer, on the other hand a fellow believer may not reach the same conclusion. For instance as your story merely confirms what they already believe to be true they may think differently from me and just find it a nice little tale and nothing more.
As a writer of fiction myself I try to view the situation through the eyes and mind of my characters and of course they cannot all think as I do and therefore I must sometimes think and write as a believer.
To emphasise the point seek out a variety of Hubs written on this site and you will see how flat some of them can be when written from only one very narrow view point. I’m sorry to say but many of the articles on this site are ‘Drum Banging’ from ‘One Trick Ponies’ out to make some point or other, many it saddens me to say are from the religious on some sort of mission.
Religion is an emotive subject, even the subject of God is controversial around here, you might think that after so many thousands of years the world might have reached a compromise as to whose God is the one but Alas ! Of course this makes God and belief a great hook for any story and you can weave it into any scenario you like from history to terrorism, fact or fiction. But the overall point has to be the story not the subject.
So endeth the lesson !
Disclaimer
This story in its entirety and the characters within are purely fictional. Any resemblance to persons now living or dead is purely coincidental.
Merlin Fraser 13 months ago
Since you were cheeky enough to ask I have done as you requested although I'm not entirely sure that I am a suitable critic for such a story. you see I am a Pagan and do not believe in a God.
OK Having said that I cannot imagine how I personally would handle the same situation of having to comfort a dying child.
Would I lie ? Yes of course I would, but what would I say ?
Where did the notion of God and Heaven come from to the child...from the mother or the school ? If the child was mine perhaps the subject would never have come up, religious indoctrination is something I am against, at a young and vulnerable age. If someone chooses to follow religion later in life and as matter of personal choice that’s fine, however it doesn’t answer the dilemma of how would I deal with the situation.
And herein lies the beauty and cleverness of this short piece, yes it maybe fiction but it could happen to anyone of us at any time, and just by reading this it challenges the reader to say “What would I do ?”
If you believe, as I do that there lies nothing beyond this life, when you die that’s it finish, but would anyone, irrespective of their own true beliefs, try to explain that to a dying six year old ?
Thank you for being cheeky and inviting me to your Hub, hope you approve of my comments.
Now be a dear and go read some of mine !