once upon a time...

once upon a time, there was a girl.
this girl lived a very sad life.
but she was happy with what she had, because she didn't know what she didn't.
her aunt and uncle had moved away when she was just a babe,
and her brother was always sick.
her father fought as an army captain, leaving the girl and her mother to take care of themselves.
every night the girl would lie in her bed, eyeing the ceiling above her.
she would wait until the sun went down and the moon came up.
and when it did come up, she would gaze out her window to meet it.
for the moon made her happy.
she knew that if God could put a big white ball in the sky for 7 straight hours,
He could love her even in the times she thought no one did.
she smiled with the moon and always pictured the moon to wink back some day.
one dark night during a sad war between countries, the girl waited for the moon;
but it never came up.
she waited for hours after that,
just listening to gunfire and yells.
She was scared.
there was no moon, and the noise seemed to be echoing in her head.
the moon never came.
smoke filled the air so the girl shut her window and flopped in her bed.
she whispered to herself that she would see the moon tomorrow.
But suddenly, her mother came rushing into her room.
'we have to go!' she told the girl, holding her brother in her arms.
the girl was scared because her mother said this very frightened.
she jumped off her bed and the three ran down the wooden stairs and out the door.
they ran as far as they could, as fast as they could.
the girl turned around and looked at the battle ground far away.
'daddy.'
her dad would be fine, her mother said.
they kept running as close as they could to a bridge.
after the bridge, miles down was a small village. they would spend the night here.
why would God let this happen to us? She wondered. why would He let people die?
why would He take our home?
She started to let tears slip as they entered a small inn.
the girl's mother paid the inn keeper as the headed up to their room.
it was a small room with only one bed but the three would have to share it.
their mother shut the curtains hanging from the window as the girl and her brother got in bed.
the girl's mother started to sing a song as they drifted asleep.
but then the girl got up and walked over to her mother.
her mother picked her up and sat her down in her lap.
the girl still wondered how God could let this happen and not save her father.
she looked out the window as tears started to fall again.
But then she knew that her Daddy was going to be okay and God would save the day.
because the moon peered around the clouds, and winked.