#sixsentencestories – Page 12 – Poetry, Short Prose and Walking

Beam—Six Sentence Story

When a beam of dusty light through a dirty window brightened Jerome’s face he got out of bed woke awake. As a god of his own making, resting on his own authority, he was the good guy by definition. That meant everyone else was either a bad guy or had received temporary clearance papers to remain unscathed by his condemnations.

Since he didn’t consider it possible that he wasn’t much of a god nor that the good he did wasn’t all that good, he refused to repent when his own faults became obvious like contradictions staining an otherwise pristine proof. Being his own lord, why should he call upon Someone else?

Gambling that his tale would end when it was over, Jerome let it end with that.

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Denise offers the prompt word “beam” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

Genesis 3:5
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Romans 10:13
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Cup—Six Sentence Story

Samuel had no idea why he accepted the invitation to his friend’s wedding. He had long ago psyched out his former classmates whom he expected to be there as terminally weird. However, after the ceremony and dinner as the dancing began he saw something bubble over in their eyes he hadn’t noticed before. They suddenly weren’t the certifiable psychos he remembered them to be, but rather huggable people.

In the morning Samuel’s memories of the party faded into his intellectual reconstructions of nonreality. But even after he drank a full cup of strong coffee his newfound love for all of them refused to capitulate to the nuttiness of his own mind.

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Denise offers the prompt word ” cup” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

Scale—Six Sentence Story

Saul’s blindness left as if a scale fell from each eye when Ananias put his hands on him. His heretical heretic hunting days were over. He now became one of the hunted.

He waited for three days after the light overpowered him and blindness set in on the Road to Damascus. While waiting he refused to eat or drink.

Saul heard the voice, felt the power to the point of blindness and from that day forward abandoned his former ways to obey no matter what the cost to himself.

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Denise offers the prompt word “scale” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

Acts 9:17-18 KJV
¹⁷And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
¹⁸And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.

Abstract—Six Sentence Story

Barry painted light-hearted, popular abstract art. The more light-hearted his compositions were the more popular they became and the more popular they became the more computer scientists thought they could simulate them to prove that machines were just as light-hearted as people.

Although their computer generated art looked like Barry’s, the collecting public were able to pick out an authentic Barry original with little difficulty. It had that je ne sais quoi that only Barry could bring to the canvas.

In a quote published by the gallery representing him, Barry acknowledged the predicament his imitators were in saying, “Should computers ever talk to their programmers, and programmers opened their ears to listen, they would tell them that no one in his right mind would waste time putting anything on a canvas.”

Waste of time or not Barry’s spirit didn’t mind filling canvas after canvas each of which put his soul in such a good mood that his body bubbled over with love and laughter.

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Denise offers the prompt word “abstract” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 (KJV)
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Seal—Six Sentence Story

In a few seconds Timothy scribbled a poem in his notebook while standing on the beach waiting for the sunrise. When he got home he read it and wondered where that came from as if he had found an exotic seashell or spotted a seal in the water.

Accepting the gift he cleaned it up and posted it on his favorite sites. Although no one “liked” it nor left a comment he kept reading it over and over wondering: Where did that come from?

At the end of the day Timothy was grateful for everything: birds, clouds, beach, water and just being there. In a week he’d forget the poem because there would be another one and the days of rejoicing and wonder would start all over again.

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Denise offers the word “seal” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

I am on vacation this week without access to the internet. Hopefully I will be back by Saturday in time to post this to the Six Sentence Story group before the deadline, but if not, I have scheduled it in advance for Wednesday evening.

Toast—Six Sentence Story

He can’t fool me with those magic tricks, George thought wondering why he was wasting his time watching a guy pull rabbits out of an empty hat. He yelled at the magician, “Hey, you with that rabbit in your hand, pitch the hat and pop another bunny out of thin air!” The magician didn’t know how to convince George to shut up, but neither could George convince God to toast the magician like Zeus would have done with a lightning bolt.

Admittedly, George didn’t believe in God (nor Zeus, for that matter) so he wasn’t seriously asking for assistance. Since the magician couldn’t make George vanish with a wave of his wand—try as he might—he finally phoned the security team to escort George out.

Decades later, when the magician was too old to bewitch even toddlers, George winced as he recalled his own truth-without-love rudeness and begged God to pull some kindness out of his now empty heart which the merciful Lord was only too happy to do.

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Denise offers the prompt word “toast” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

Acts 8:9-11
⁹But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one:
¹⁰To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.
¹¹And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.

Grid—Six Sentence Story

John’s life did not follow a nice rectangular grid. Brief was his time from birth to final breath.

Though short with winding dead ends, he was offered along the way many opportunities to serve, if he obediently chose to do so. Sometimes he obeyed. Sometimes he had better things to do.

In the end flames burnt those better things leaving John with only a few grains of pure gold, enough—indeed more than what some of the others had—but not enough to stop his tears since there could have been so much more.

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Denise offers the prompt word “grid” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

1 Corinthians 3:14-15
¹⁴If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
¹⁵If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Console—Six Sentence Story

Robert walked up to the pastor while he was delivering the sermon, lay flat on the platform in front of the congregation and screamed at the top of his voice, “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!” Then he rose and walked with indifference to the back of the church expecting a lecture of some sort from Jeremy because of the disturbance he caused. In his own defense he would argue that all he was trying to do was call on the name of the Lord to prove that such magic tricks don’t work especially for the likes of him.

Jeremy, who let Robert enter wondering what delightful mischief was on his mind today, waited for him unsure whether to reprimand or console. Without understanding what good it would do but with Robert’s permission Jeremy followed the request of a soft inward voice to put his hands on each side of Robert’s head and say, “Jesus!”

It surprised Jeremy to see Robert crumble to the floor weeping with an uncontrolled joy knowing finally that even someone like himself could never be the same again.

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Denise offers the prompt word “console” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

This tale is fictional. However, if you have a born-again relationship with the Holy Spirit, what happened between Jeremy and Robert is not the result of magic tricks nor hypnosis. Hearing His soft inward voice should not be confused with talking to oneself (nor with some demon’s temptation to do something inappropriate). His voice will tell you what to do. You will not likely feel comfortable doing it, but He responds to your obedience out of love for you and those around you for His own glory.

Strain—Six Sentence Story

For Stan the idea that anything might exist put a strain on what he could philosophically tolerate. Asserting himself he told his students that there wasn’t a single good reason why any of them were here.

But all of that was before the accident, the emergency room, the coma and the visitations. Things started to click when one visitor with attractive horns offered him a full twenty years in exchange for his spirit.

Stan wished he could have told his students what he discovered before his life support was removed. He consoled himself with the thought that they would find it more credible if they heard it from someone else.

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Denise offers the prompt word “strain” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

Melancholy—Six Sentence Story

The hostility between Steve and Bobby was miraculously resolved during the funeral of their older-by-twelve-years sister and Fred’s wife, Lily. During Fred’s eulogy for his wife he handed Steve and Bobby separate boxes containing mementos of their lives from infancy through grade school that Lily saved having watched over them many decades ago. He then handed them envelops with the words “Last Will” written on them containing a letter asking her two brothers to stop fighting with each other.

Touched by a sense of melancholy while going through the box he received from Fred, Bobby apologized to and forgave Steve who seeing this as a sign of weakness announced to all at the funeral that this long-overdue confession coming from the likes of Bobby was a miracle (which it may well have been).

In spite of that remark peace between them lasted until Steve insisted moments later that he get credit for being the one who apologized first which everyone at the funeral knew was a lie. Through the resulting commotion Fred called for silence and handed the brothers another envelop containing Lily’s second Last Will which simply read, “Didn’t I tell you two to STOP FIGHTING?”

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Denise offers the prompt word “melancholy” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

1 John 2:9
He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.