Living Again

It was a rainy day. It was not your typical picturesque idea of spring where crystal clear showers would spray an array of refreshing raindrops on the earth. But, it was that type of day where mud would pile up on the walkways, and all of your clothes would get soaked wet for a person who never carries around umbrellas like me. Frankly speaking, it’s exciting to romp around the rainwater like a young child. It’s that feeling that you can enjoy the simplest things in life and feel free to let your true colors paint the world around you.

If you should know a few things about me, I am a poet, a blacksmith, and an ordinary boy who simply loves to explore the world. My name is Riley and I have lived my whole life stuck in a corner of obligation and self-doubt for the longest time. Why? It is because my whole life, I was trying to live up to the expectations of other people. However, what ultimately happened is, I stopped believing in my dreams. I stopped trusting in God that He could do something amazing with my life. So instead, I desperately tried to reach towards the standards of others. But, through a special friend, I have begun to live my life in a different perspective. God certainly was an important part in this journey, but I believe that it was this friend that He sent me to lift the burden of self-denial and grief off of my shoulders.

Her name is Maurie. And do not think that because she is a girl and I am a boy, there is more to our relationship than simply being friends. She’s simply my best friend who inspires me to live the dreams in my heart and to live my life like it was meant to be. It is impossible to explain who Maurie is in a simple paragraph, but if you should know some things about her, she's the type of girl who is always thinking about something. She challenges the world with her wits as if she could change the way the world thinks by herself. She is often caught pouring over her books, deciphering each page and talking to the characters as if they were sitting next to her. But these books are not your typical storybook with princesses and talking animals, but books that contain information about botany and chemical reactions. It’s the funniest thing when you find her with her legs sprawled out on the floor as if she’s not an eighteen-year old princess with her elbows resting on books and her head planted in her palms. She’s the type of girl who would stay late after class and study outside on the benches till she was found the next day sleeping with a line of drool going down the side of her cheek. But most importantly, she taught me that just because the world seems to have this standard of everyone getting a well-paid job and starting a family, you don’t have to be that necessarily. You can be whatever you want to be, and if God’s plan, then that’s the best dream that you can ever wish for. We automatically assume that our lives will end up like everyone else, and so we end up not seeing the magic in every day and the beauty of the small things in life. It sounds like an unreachable solution at times when we doubt God’s dominion over our lives, but life’s too short to worry about every little thing, when it’s really God Who’s in control.

I’m not a very wealthy person myself either. I live in a small barn and although it is not the most flattering place to rest, it is next to Maurie’s house which is the castle where her parents, the king and queen live. Yes, she is a princess, and because of that, she is bowed and respected at school. However, she is secretly scorned and hated, even though she hasn’t done a single fault to them. My father, the blacksmith of the kingdom, is the king’s choice pick for his soldiers, so I have grown up around hammers and fire, which explains my fear for fire due to my curiosity on the “pretty flames” as a child.

I remember pointing it out to Maurie and saying, “Hey, look Maurie! It looks like your red hair!”

And then as long as I live, I will never forget what she said, “Riley, my hair is not that ugly color! These lochs are brown! Fire is made out of carbon dioxide, water vapor, oxygen, and nitrogen! You know that I don’t like those elements put in that order like that!”

So, as a five year old child who desperately tried to prove his point, I grabbed a whole fist to show how pretty the fire is, since father isn’t around. I screamed in pain and cried from the searing burns. Although I was reprimanded by my father, I still remember that Maurie at that moment, took me to her room in the palace where I wasn’t allowed and healed my hand with the potions in her room. She worked hard to heal my scorched hand, and ever since then, she has been allowed to heal my various cuts and burns when I was working.

Besides burning and shaping metal, or putting clocks back together, I also work as a coachmen who drives Maurie around to her many obligations as a princess. My father and I built her a secret study in the woods which she often sneaks out to study at night, even though she is not a very stealthy person. The study is absolutely stunning. A grand oak tree is twirled around a small, mushroom shaped house that is usually very dusty since she never has the time to clean it. Of course, I used a touch of magic to keep the plants and flowers beautiful because she is often forgetful and doesn’t water them herself. The inside of her mushroom house is packed with all sorts of odds and ends. Sometimes, I even wonder how she even makes the things she has in her study. But, I know that she stays there for hours upon end because her father has secretly ordered me to be her security guard. I really worry that something will happen to her because as smart as she is, she isn’t very observant. I will be walking five feet behind her and she will not notice me, but maybe that’s because I have been attending military training at school.

The school I attend is not your usual idea of a typical academy where students file in and sit in “boring” classes. It’s a different system where you are tested multiple times to decipher where you are strong in academically and physically. From there, the academic board places you in certain classes where you are able to look at the possibilities of future careers. The school, although it is directed towards the students, it can often be degrading towards those whose strong points aren’t as highly looked upon as others.

Besides worrying about school, most of the stress I feel is of the kingdom. As much as Maurie’s parents are working as diligently as they are to protect their domain, there lies one who used to be a part of this kingdom, until he revolted against the king, Irving Drakkon. The king, King Edmund, threw him out of the kingdom and set up boundaries around the land to protect it from his evil schemes. However, Irving has been attempting to invade the kingdom, and through the many times that he has attempted, this time he succeeded.

In order to protect her parents, Maurie attempted to save them by escaping with them on horseback. The king and queen were overtaken by Irving’s soldiers and pierced in the heart with a poisonous dagger. With great grief in her heart, she begged me to come with her to rescue the kingdom from Irving’s power. So, as a faithful friend and one who sympathized with her loss, I packed a few provisions and left.

In all of her life, that was the hardest day Maurie ever faced in her life. Sure, she’s disappointed her parents and went through the usual teenage angst, but nothing could compare to what happened that day. I remember following her around in the woods, desperately trying to keep up with her fast pace since I didn’t get any sleep that last night. She walked aimlessly around the woods as if all roads led to where she wanted to go, but I didn’t dare wish to stop her.

Maurie refused to quit her search and to stop walking until her feet were so sore, she couldn’t walk another step. When dusk finally brought a chilly breeze into the night and all that could be seen were silhouettes of the overgrown trees, we decided to rest. That night, I remember all that I did was console her as she cried bitterly, wrapping her arms around her legs and praying to God for mercy. She cried out to God and squeezed my hand with both of hers so tight that it hurt as we prayed. She didn’t talk the rest of the night, or eat either. I prayed that I would never have to see my friend go through such a hard time again.

The rest of our days were spent alongside my close friend, Lucan. As much as I enjoy Maurie’s friendship, I would have to say that Lucan does succeed in coming a bit closer in our comradely relationship. He too, took part in changing my life. And the funny thing is, he didn’t know it himself. A simple page or two could not describe this friend of mine, and neither a completed diary either. Lucan is someone who cannot be simply admired or liked. He’s the type of guy who seems to be a bit unapproachable at first because he loves competition, especially in sword fighting. However, despite that fact, he is one of the most inspiring people I know. Lucan has been strictly trained by his father, the governor of our school, to become his father’s successor, but Lucan didn’t want that position. His dream was to become a soldier for the military and fight for our kingdom. Of course, most of his days, his heart was bitter towards his father’s unrelenting power over him, but he too learned to follow this path that he felt God had called him to, rather than his father’s wishes. Lucan waited for God to confirm his dream, and sure enough, he was enlisted in the army.

Of course, mutiny and various circumstances encompassed our lives, but in the end, it was God that brought us together. We learned that it’s ok to dream. It’s ok to be yourself and show the world God through your talents. You don’t have to be someone of high importance from the world’s perspective to live a life of beauty and happiness. Sometimes I wish that I knew this before, but I guess we all have to understand what it’s like to live a life previously of hurt to know how to heal from the scars it brought.

It was the three of us sitting on the pokey grass that tickled our legs. The moon hung in the sky among the birds that flew low above the trees. A chilly wind swept through the grass and had tossed the petals of flowers about like a current of a pink and purple river. But as the night wore on, the sky began to show colors of the morning as we chatted through the night. Hues of peachy pinks and bright oranges streaked through the sky as if God had taken a paintbrush and taken the time to make each color absolutely gorgeous.

“Isn’t it funny?” Lucan laughed to himself.

I gave Maurie a questionable look before I replied, “What are you talking about?”

“Isn’t it so funny how we ended up being friends?” He motioned his head toward me, “We became friends because you were too weak to defend yourself at school.” He paused, “And you,” he tilted his head left towards Maurie, “the Princess of this whole kingdom.”

“I guess that’s what God planned in his head when He made each of us. If I didn’t meet you goofballs, then I probably wouldn’t be who I am now.” She stared off into the trees as if she was finding her words in the foliage.

“I’m just happy that God allowed me to meet you two, and to live a happy life,” I sighed, “a life that I can fulfill my dreams in serenity with God, without being expected to be someone else.”

That morning, we finally left our daydream state and took a stroll in the woods where we visited Maurie’s lab for the umpteenth time and climbed the tallest trees that allowed us to view the world from a bird’s eye view. Afterwards, we had lunch in my workshop where we enjoyed Maurie’s attempt to make a tuna sandwich and black tea. We talked all through the afternoon about old stories and the hilarious ones that always made Maurie laugh the hardest.

When night came around again, I prayed. I prayed that God would keep my friends safe and that all of us would be able to live a life of Christ-filled joy. I want us to appreciate the small things, the unnoticed things in life that people don't seem to pay attention to. I thanked Him for those things and I especially gave thanks to Him for Lucan and Maurie. I wouldn't be who I am now without them, and I definitely wouldn't have been able to appreciate the life I have if Christ didn't come and show me how to start living again.