The Earring

Book 4 Part 7

I was bent over, changing a diaper on the front seat. At his words, I snapped to attention, banging my head on the top of the doorframe. I rubbed my head.

"Of course it's still good," I said.

Holding out his hand, Zach revealed the missing earring.

"Where was it?" I asked. "We've all searched that back seat many times, because I took a nap back there on the way home from grandma's."

"I know," Zach said. "When I pulled out the seat belt, the earring fell out. I guess it was caught in there the whole time."

Like the earring, our marriage was lost in plain sight. The only difference was that we didn't know it was lost. Even though we experienced ups and downs, we believed we were on track. Everything was right in our world. David was where God wanted him, at Rimrock College. Our boys made close friends at church. I became the youth leader and later the education director for the church. We were serving God. He seemingly had no choice but to bless, and bless He did. He blessed us as much as He could, but I believe He wanted to bless us more. The problem was that we chose the direction of our ministry, rather than asking Him what He wanted.

#

Faith stared at the silent fountain in the corner, a large clay pot with two smaller pots stacked on top. A pump usually sent water from the bottom up through a tube running through all the pots. The top two pots lay on their sides, letting water splash from one to the other and into the cistern at the bottom. It had been unplugged because no one was living in the house, and it needed water added every few days because of splash and evaporation factors.

"That fountain still has the capability of running and providing tranquil sounds, but it's not connected to a source of power," Faith thought. "When Mama and Daddy chose their own direction instead of seeking God's guidance, they disconnected themselves from their source of power. Is that what I've done? I keep telling God I want his help, but I'm not listening to what He tells me."

Faith got up, filled the fountain with water, and plugged it in. At first the pump gurgled and sputtered. Then it began to hum and water started pouring out of the top of three stacked pots as the pump did its job. The soothing sound that Mama loved filled the room.

Standing by the pump, holding the watering can, Faith realized that the pump not only needed to be plugged into a power source, but it also needed a continual supply of water. Left untended, the water would evaporate and the pump would have nothing to pump.

"I'm like that," she thought. "I need to be watered often. For God's power to be effective, I have to read my Bible and pray and attend worship. Otherwise I'll dry up.

"I'm sorry, God. Give me another chance. Pour in your love, and I'll let it flow through me, even into Aaron if that's what you want."

#

I took David's suggestions. I volunteered at the boys' school. I took on the job of youth leader at the church we joined. I made some good friends and slowly began to fill my life with worthwhile things. Still, I was not completely satisfied. I itched to write.

I acquired a list of Christian publications. I mailed them each a copy of two columns, one humorous and the other serious, offering to make submissions on a monthly basis. I told them that I planned to keep the copywrite to my columns and to submit them to numerous publications, just as syndicated columnists publish the same column in numerous newspapers.

I kept the copywrite to the columns I wrote in Louisiana, too, although I had written them for only one paper. The editor told me I could keep the copywrite, as long as I promised not to sell them to anyone else until a year after he published them. The name of my column, though, belonged to the paper. I could no longer use Taking Off with Lander. I tried out numerous other titles that would be a pun on my surname before finally settling for Life's Bumpy Landings by Sydney Lander.