PROPHETIC STORIES

 

Clarissa’s pond      

 

Once upon a time there was a little girl who liked to go out fishing. She loved the little pond, the calmness of the water, the smell of the flowers in the surrounding bushes, the lively birds in the nearby trees, the frogs, and the sparkle of the sun in the water.   She loved fishing because she got to be alone in that beautiful environment.   Some afternoons she would come back from school with her backpack full of books, sat at her favorite place at the base of an old oak tree besides the pond, and did her homework there. She waited for the sun to start setting before heading hurriedly home for dinner. Her parents knew where she was and the town was a friendly place, still, mother always looked at her wall cuckoo clock thinking of her little darling.

One day Clarissa was sitting on the green grass under the old oak tree by the pond.   The mid afternoon sun was glimmering and shinning in the still waters and its reflected light seemed to her like a shining path over the waters.  She kept looking, quite fascinated, and the more she looked the more solid the path of light seemed to her.  She got up and taking a small branch she touched the water with it. The water moved and the light distorted and twirled and the path ceased to be straight.  “Oh, silly me. Of course, it is just the sun!”    She recalled another day when the rays of the sun had formed a slanted path in the sky, straight from the sun to the pond. Clarissa was fascinated with these magic paths of light that she kept noticing during her time at the pond.

She was not a common girl, she had few friends because she preferred to be alone in her secret place than to be playing dolls, jumping rope with the other girls, or even watching movies.  She liked to read books, and she especially loved her children´s Bible, where she got acquainted with miracles, adventure, supernatural beings and amazing stories of heroic characters.

One of her favorite parts was when Jesus walked on the water at the Sea of Galilee.  Not a few times had she tried to do likewise, without any success. This is why when she saw the path of light over the pond, it reminded her of Jesus.  “Maybe Jesus walked on a path of light like this one in the big lake of Galilee?”  And like if it was an answer to her question, she remembered a verse she had read in her Bible: “The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that grows brighter until the full light of day.”  “So there is a path of light… and the righteous walk on it…”

As she was pondering these deep thoughts for a 9 year old, she noticed the figure of a man on the other side of the pond. Clarissa got startled because she didn’t see him coming or heard any noise and there he was, appearing out of nowhere.  The stranger looked at her and smiled. “Hi Clarissa!”

He knew her name? Why was he wearing a robe instead of normal clothes? Why did he have long hair and a beard? What was he doing in her pond?

And the answer dawned in her heart like a bolt of loving fire: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

“Sir, are you Jesus..?”

And the stranger smiled and nodded, and opening His arms, called her to Him. Clarissa got up and approached the edge of the pond. It seemed like the time had stopped and the earth had gone still; no noises, no movements, the birds had stopped chirping, the frogs were silent, and there was no breeze.

The shimmering sun had just made another path in the pond. It started right at her feet and ended at Jesus’s sandals in the other shore.  The pond was like 100 meters wide, and not very deep; Clarissa swam there a couple times with her brothers and parents.

Jesus kept standing there smiling with his arms wide open.

Clarissa yelled: “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You walking on the water…”

And He said, “It is Me, come!”

Those same words had worked for Peter 2000 years ago, why wouldn’t they work now for Clarissa?  With her childlike faith  she took a first step into the path of light in the surface of the waters and found it solid. She kept looking at Jesus and taking one step after the other, till she joyously started running over the water. Soon she reached the other side and jumped into Jesus’s arms. He hugged her, smiled at her, and told her: “I love you Clarissa!” “Come, follow Me and I will make you a fisher of men!”  – And having said that, he vanished.

Clarissa was elated. She looked back at the tree in the other side, at the pond she just walked across, and noticed that the path of light wasn’t there anymore and that the sun was going down.  She was so excited..! She experienced a miracle, the same miracle that Peter experienced, and she didn’t sink because she kept looking at Jesus, or perhaps the pond was smaller. Who knows?

And that is why Clarissa always had loved fishing… she had been called to be a fisher of men!

She walked around the pond till she reached her favorite spot, picked up her backpack and headed back home pondering in her heart all that had happened. She noticed that everything looked normal again, the birds, the frogs, the wind, the buzzing of insects. Wow! She just wanted to tell everyone about it. But who would believe such a story? She was odd enough and nobody would believe her. Not her family, not her school mates or the teacher. They would think she was crazy. She better keep it to herself.

But that encounter changed Clarissa’s life forever. She knew she had a calling and from that day on she studied her Bible, prayed, and tried to be loving and obedient in her home and school. Her parents and brothers couldn’t help but notice a big change in their little Clarissa, so did the teachers and school mates.

Every day she kept going to the pond to pray and meditate, and when she grew up, she made the decision to tell everybody about her special Jesus, who had taken her on a pond –walking- experience longtime ago and called her to become a fisher of men.   Clarissa went to a far flung country in Asia where she became a missionary.

As Clarissa’s home town grew and expanded, a shopping mall was built on the land where the pond used to be. But somehow they preserved the oak tree in a corner of the parking lot.

Every time Clarissa visited her family every few years, she made sure to visit the old oak tree, the silent witness of her calling.

God has a calling for each one of us. He made each one of us unique and special, with a mission to accomplish, and He equipped us with the necessary special gifts and talents. Look deep inside of your heart, what are your gifts? What is it that you enjoy doing the most, that you excel in?   See how to use them to the full. How is your relationship with God? Keep your eyes open for supernatural manifestations, because God is pursuing you, He is a living God and He loves to communicate with His children. Dare to believe like a little child, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.