Say Yes

Picture by Sarah Sexton

It was a perfect day. It wasn’t humid. It wasn’t hot. It wasn’t cold. It was so much neither hot nor cold that unless one really thought about it, he or she could not even feel the weather at all. It was almost as if any other nice day was nice, but this was perfect.

Will and Lulu rested under a tree. Will’s back was to the tree, and Lulu laid her head on Will’s lap as she looked at the sky through the branches. “Are we going to do it?” asked Lulu almost in a trance as she took in the fresh air she could barely feel.
“I don’t think she is ready”, answered Will.
“If she isn’t ready now, she will never be”.
“I don’t know. If she fails now, she might never try again”.
Lulu sighed and sat up looking now straight at Will. “How can we expect her to have faith if we don’t have faith in her?”

Under the hill, Tenly sat unsuspectingly as she drew the world on her notebook. She copied the bird onto her page as it sang a song for her. As soon as the bird was captured on her page, she watched as it flew away to brighten someone else’s day.
“I guess you really can’t keep anything”, Tenly whispered as she colored in her sketch.
“Do you know what God wants from you?” The thought left her head as quickly as it entered it.
“She isn’t open to it. She doesn’t want to hear it”, said Will.
“Try again”, said Lulu. “Give her a chance”.
“What does God want from me?” They heard Tenly’s head begin to turn. “I guess it would be so much easier if I just knew. If God drew me a map, I would just follow”.
She let her hand move freely on the page as words and doodles came from her mind and became real on paper.
“Say Yes”.

Tenly looked at her notebook. She had been so lost in her thoughts she did not realize the perfect “Yes” she had written with beautiful calligraphy in her notebook.
“Fine”, Tenly said quietly. “I can do that. I will say yes to whatever you ask of me”.
Will and Lulu looked at each other. Tenly was hooked. They got her.
Tenly stood up, picked up her things, and began walking. She had decided that whatever “God” feeling she had, she would obey. Honestly, she was skeptical of her own experiment. She didn’t know if she would even get her “God feeling” at all. Lulu and Will watched closely as she walked through the now busy streets.

“Excuse me miss,” said a man. His hair was messy and his clothes were ripped. “Could I have some money? I haven’t eaten in a long time”.

Tenly knew she had thirteen dollars in her pocket. Three dollars in change and a ten dollar bill. She reached into her pocket and felt for the three dollars which were folded outside of the ten dollar bill and gave it to the man. The man’s face beamed. He blessed her, and he walked away. Then, it hit her. The “God feeling”.
-Run after him and give him the ten dollars.- Lulu whispered.
“What? No”, she thought. “I might need them later”.
-Come on, do it-
Tenly grumbled, but she ran after the man. “Excuse me! Sir!” The man looked back with a beautiful smile on his face. “Yes?” he asked.
Tenly gave him a small reluctant smile as she handed him the ten dollars. The man reached and touched her cheek. “God bless you, child”.
Something within Tenly moved.

-Follow him-.

Will and Lulu watched as Tenly made a face, but followed the man. The man walked for a bit and went up to a flower vendor. “I’ll have your most beautiful flower”, said the small man. The vendor took the usual white lily as big as ever and handed it to the man. The man reached into his pocket for the ten dollar bill and gave it to the flower vendor.
Tenly watched curiously. As she was going to follow him, she noticed a small girl looking at her bracelet. Tenly hadn’t had the bracelet for very long, but it was certainly very pretty.
-Tell her hi.-
Tenly could hear the thought loud and clear, but she just looked at the young girl.
-Come on-.
“Come on, come on” Lulu said.
“That’s it, she won’t do it”, said Will.
As soon as he did, Tenly walked over to the girl and knelt next to her.
“Hi”, said Tenly. “What’s your name?”
“Lucy”, said the small girl.
“Hi Lucy. I noticed you looking at my bracelet”. She pointed at the small charm. “Do you know who this is?”
The small girl smiled. “Yeah, that it St. Therese”. Tenly looked at her surprised. “Yeah!”
The small girl explained. “My mom says she teaches us that great things can come from small acts of love”.

Tenly looked at her bracelet, then at the girl. “That’s a good lesson”, said Tenly. She took off her bracelet and gave it to the girl. “Here is a small act of love”, she said. “Go do a great thing with it”.
The girl took the  in her hands as if she were a small child receiving communion for the first time. Tenly looked around to look for the man, but she could not find him. When she looked down to look at the thankful girl, she noticed her running to her mom to show her her new gift.
Tenly smiled. “Okay, I’m out of thirteen bucks and a really cool bracelet. I was right. You really can’t keep anything”.
Will looked at Lulu, “She doesn’t get it yet”. Lulu looked at Will, “She will. She just needs a little help”.

Tenly, within her things, had a bottle juice she had brought from her house. She unscrewed the cap to took a sip as Will ran into her and completely knocked the juice on her sweater.
Lulu looked at Will with an “I obviously did not mean do that!” face, but she quickly said,
-Don’t freak out. There is a stream nearby. Go rinse off your sweater.-
“Well, I mean,” she thought, “I hope this rinses out well because haha Jesus if not, you owe me a new sweater”.
She walked to the stream to wash her sweater when she noticed a small house by the stream. It was small and white. She approached it.
-Go in.-
Tenly, one for adventures, did not ignore the “God feeling twice”. She rinsed her sweater and hung it on a tree nearby to dry as she went into the little house.

Immediately, she noticed a small altar. Above it, was a crucifix. It was old, but it was beautiful. She quietly sat at the back of the chapel as she heard a small voice coming from the side of the chapel. She quickly noticed the small girl she had met earlier kneeling in front of an image of Our Lady. At the feet of Our Lady was a white lily, the same flower the man had bought.
“He took the ten dollars he clearly needed and bought a flower?” Tenly thought quietly.
Will and Lulu quietly went to join the girl in prayer.

“Hi mom,” said the little girl looking adoringly at the image of Our Lady. “I brought you something. I found a girl today. She was very pretty. Just like you!” The little girl, still addressing the small figure, continued. “She asked me to do something great with her little act of love, but I know the only one who can do great things is God. You are His mom though, so you can ask Him to do something really fun though, right? I know He has a sense of humor. I would ask Him, but I think she needs answers simplified. You could have kept everything. Your life. Your simplicity. You gave it all up for Jesus. Maybe, just maybe, you can ask Him to do something super awesome so she knows that the more she gives the more awesome things He can do with her life. I guess just show her that when you really love Jesus you don’t want to keep anything, and you want to give it all to Him. You know? Well, I have to go because my parents will worry”.

The little girl did a quick, reverent sign of the cross, blew a kiss at Jesus on the cross, left the bracelet on Our Lady’s hands, and ran out a small side door of the chapel. Tenly felt warm. She took her sketchpad and ripped out the page of the small bird she had drawn with the scribble “Say Yes” on the top. She went to the front of the church and knelt in front of the altar, and put the drawing in the small basket for offerings.
“If I am keeping anything, take it, Jesus. Take my will. Take my everything. Do something awesome. I trust you”.
Tenly went outside and took her sweater. Her heart was warm, and her smile was bright.
Above, somewhere up a hill, sat Will against a tree. Through the branches, Lulu looked at the sky.
“What awesome thing do you think He will do this time?” Will asked Lulu.
“I don’t know,” she answered, “but I can’t wait”.