Day 7: A Dream

The Prompt: Write a short story using these words: angel, vineyard, shield, and shepherd.

I've been doing this for one week now.  :)  I have already learned that this challenge is harder than I thought because I have to sit and write, even when I don't feel like it.  I'm not spending 15 minutes on it either.  It's more like double that.  I guess I have more to say than I thought.  I am also trying to get used to publishing something without taking that much time to edit, which has been a weakness of mine.  Anyways, here is the story I whipped up for today.

     Once there lived a poor shepherd who had a wife and three children, two of which were grown and had left the house already.  He had always wanted to own a vineyard, but he never had enough money to purchase the land needed for it.  Instead he was forced to work for a rich man who owned several acres of land and possessed many livestock and crops, including a vineyard.  The poor man wanted to work at the vineyard, but his master did not need another person there.  He needed a shepherd.  The shepherd was a hard worker.  He woke before the sun started rising to start his job of watching the sheep.  It certainly was not a very exciting job.  He’d lead the sheep out of their pens and prod them up over the hill where they grazed for hours.  They were good sheep, all staying in one place.  The shepherd used to keep an alert lookout on them, watching for any strays or predators that would harm the precious things that had been entrusted in his care.  Eventually, he stopped acting so alert because nothing ever happened.  His tall posture slackened as he would lean on his staff at the top of the hill and listlessly gaze at his master’s vineyard in the distance.  If his master would allow him to work there, he would be able to be involved with the vineyard throughout the grapes’ growth.  There would always be something to do.  The sheep did not do anything.

     However one day, the shepherd had his back turned on his flock and, as he gazed down at his broken dream, marauders rode up swiftly and silently and began to herd the sheep away.  If the shepherd would have faced the flock, he would have been able to see the danger ahead of time and stop it.  By the time he heard the yells from the men, the noises from the animals they rode, and the bleating of his sheep, it was too late for him to do anything but tire himself out from running after them.  Not one sheep remained.  When his master heard this, he fired him promptly.  

     Since the shepherd lived in a small house provided by his master, he and his family were out of a home as well.  The shepherd could not get any work because the whole town had heard how he irresponsibly let the sheep slip from under his nose.  His wife and daughter were forced to get work while he sat in their makeshift tent and lamented.  The man’s trouble did not stop there.  His wife was injured at work one day, and he did not have enough money to pay for a doctor to help them.  They barely had enough money as it was to buy food, but with his wife now crippled, they were bringing in even less money.  His daughter was ridiculed by the other girls for her father’s incompetence, and she complained to him that she would die an old maid because he did not have the money to pay for her dowry to get married.  

     Overwhelmed with guilt, regret, and the weight of all the tragedies him and his family had to endure because of his mistake, the poor former shepherd stole away one night several yards away from his tent and cried out to God.

     “What did I do to deserve such punishment, O God?!!  You have abandoned me!  My family- even the whole town hates me!  Why are all these things happening?!  I can’t bear them anymore!”

     Suddenly, in that still, quiet night, an angel appeared to the man.  The former shepherd bowed down low, terrified that the dirt below him would be the last sight he’d see.

     The angel asked, in a commanding yet gentle voice, “Shepherd, why do you stand here crying?”

     The man decided to speak truthfully.  “I am no shepherd.  I have lost everything, and everyone hates me.  God hates me, and I deserve it all.  I failed.”

     “Why did you fail?” the angel patiently asked.

     “I failed because I was not doing my job,” he softly admitted.

     “You failed because you were looking behind you instead of what lay ahead.  You yearned for something you could not have while you did not appreciate what was right in front of you.  The Lord was willingly to bless you.  You just had to faithfully do your job.  Now, you have lost it.”

     Tears began streaming down the man’s face.

     The angel’s demeanor softened.  “Now, now.  I did not come here to chastise you but to help you.  Take heart.  The Lord does not hate you.  You have not lost everything.  You still have your wife and your three children.”

     “But they are all unhappy with me.”

     “Perhaps they are disappointed, but they have not left you.  They are still willing to stay faithful to you, just like God is always faithful to you.  He is your shield from all the troubles that come your way.  Have faith in the ones who love you.”

     The man sniffed away more sobs.  “But what am I to do?  I tried to get a job; no one will hire me.”

     “Obey the Lord your God.  Have faith in him, and He will save you.”  With those words, the angel disappeared.

     The man looked around but could not see him.  He sat alone for another moment, the words the angel said still lingering in the air.

     The next morning, the man woke up, kissed his wife and daughter, thanked them for staying with him (even after he put them through so much), and walked into town to look for work.  He hunted every day, from sun up to sun down, for two weeks.  He never lost heart through it all.  He held onto the hope that something would eventually turn up.

     God heard his prayer, and on the first day of the third week, a moderately wealthy yet humble man took pity on him and hired him to clean the stalls for his animals.  The former shepherd rejoiced at this small, demeaning job.  He never complained and always did his work faithfully.  After working in the stalls for a couple months, his master gave him greater responsibility over the animals and eventually asked him to work out in his small field.  The man was getting paid more than his job as a shepherd, and he was just as happy, if not happier.  He eventually became one of the best workers on the property.  Two years later, the faithful servant’s master died.  He had no living relatives, so he left his entire property to his best worker.  The faithful servant was overwhelmed with the Lord’s blessings, and the following spring, he planted a vineyard.