The One

"I'm It," cries the girl in the playground. As usual, they all let her be the one. She is the leader of the gang and everybody does what she says. Everyone joins in except for one tiny girl in untidy pigtails. She cowers behind a bench, unnoticed by the children playing and the two teachers who patrol the playground chatting to one another.

Other children race about and laugh and shout and have fun. The girl blows her nose on the inside of her cardigan and curls up as small as she can, hoping to be invisible. From this haven, she takes refuge in her daydreams. Her jumbled thoughts make journeys in her head to places she knows in her heart she will never go.

"It is sports day and they choose me to lead. No! Not sports day. I think I will be the class captain and good at it. Maybe not. What I really want to do is to be in the play. I want to be a beautiful actress and sing so well they all wonder what happened to the little girl with the croaking throat who is never in tune. Really though, I want to run fast.

"I hate this frock and want to wear a dress that someone else likes. I want to paint a picture that gets put up on the wall and I want to make something out of clay that makes all the others go "ooh, ah."

"My head hurts. I don't feel well. I wonder if today it is safe to ask anyone if I can play. They might say, "No." Just for today, I want to be the person who skips and not the one on the end of the rope. "I want to be someone. Why don't they see me?"

The little girl does not know she is dying. Nobody knows. To tell someone about the aches and the headache is too hard. It is safer to lie down on the cold asphalt and pretend. Her spirit gives a gentle sigh, and she is asleep. 

Someone speaks her name.  Kind arms carry her. She travels through time, speed and light. Heavenly bodies move around her and she can see stars and planets and light and is at peace. Angels float her on their wings.

Now she is at a golden gate. A voice with the sound of many waters welcomes her. A feeling of love envelops her as the wonderful One takes her on his knee. She feels his gentle hands and sees gentle eyes. The short earthly years of mistrust fall away. Beyond is a playground full of children. They are calling, asking her to play. As her tears fall, each pain and hurt of life drops into the wounds in the hands of Jesus, and her heart heals. Restored, he lets her go.

She is the ONE

She runs into the playground. They make her the leader of the game. She is home, in the glorious game of chase that the children play, she is It. She is The One.