As the girls were chatting the next day, another closet started to crack open. The girls looked at each other and then stood up. The shy girl moved forward at once and beckoned for her friend to come. Her friend hesitated and stepped forward slowly. The stuff in this closet was not as old and dusty as the junk in the previous closet had been. The girls peered in. The shy girl began to talk about the pieces. Her friend crossed her arms. The shy girl talked on. Her friend finally ordered her to stop. She didn’t want to know about this junk. She didn’t want to hear any more.
The two girls returned to their chairs by the fire, but the room was slightly darker than it had been before. The friend stood up to leave. As the shy girl bid her goodbye at the door, there was another girl standing outside. The three girls talked for a short while. Then the two friends left the shy girl standing on her porch, a weight upon her back. As she watched the two girls go off together, the shy girl began to sob and cry. She dropped to her knees and wept. Finally, she stood up, went inside her house, and closed the door. The man that had taken away her old junk entered the dimly lit cottage, took the girl in His arms, and held her all night long.
The next morning, the girl woke up to a knock on her door. She looked over and noticed that the closet doors were all closed and the junk was tidied up. Her two friends were at the door, and the invited her to go play outside. She went, and she had fun, but it was different than before.
After the newest friend went home, the shy girl went over to her friend’s house. The house was dimly lit and a little cluttered. The two girls sat and talked for a little while. The friend started cleaning up the clutter, talking about it as she picked it up. The shy girl sat patiently listening, watching as the trash can in the corner of the room slowly filled to the brim. None of the closets opened.
As the shy girl left, a new friend appeared at the door. This friend entered the house, and the shy girl’s friend emptied out the trash onto the floor and began to go through it again with this new friend. Then the two girls went to the newest friend’s house, and the other friend joined them.
The shy girl sat at home, waiting for the other girls to invite her over. They never did. Her friend sometimes came over, and they sat in the main room and talked, but the closets remained shut. Sometimes the three girls would invite the shy girl, but she didn’t want to go because she had been left out. Other times, they would talk about the fun things that they were going to do, without even acknowledging that the shy girl was there.
The shy girl shut herself up in her house often, to be comforted by the kind man. She would talk to Him about it, and He would always leave the room brighter than when He came. The girl went about her business, cleaning out her closets all by herself. The man would always come to listen to her and then he would take her stuff away. The shy girl did invite her friends over sometimes, and she sometimes hung out with them. But her closets never opened to them.
To be continued…
“But you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.”
~Psalm 3:3
“But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.”
~Psalm 13:5-6