Faithful Through the Year: August Edition
Here is the August edition of Faithful Through the Year: A Maple Lane Mystery — filled with the quiet hush of classrooms, the unexpected pause of recovery, and the mysterious kindness that shows up when someone’s heart (and body) needs healing most.
Faithful Through the Year: August Edition
Title: The Lesson Plan Left Behind
Theme: Rest, Restoration, and the Value of Being Known
Scripture Focus:
Jeremiah 31:25 — “I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”
Story: The Lesson Plan Left Behind
Mrs. Hallie Wren had taught fourth grade in Maple Lane Elementary for nineteen years. Her classroom smelled like pencil shavings and peppermint oil, her bulletin boards were masterpieces of themed décor, and her voice—gentle, firm, and endlessly patient—was practically the soundtrack of September.
But this year, Hallie wasn’t there on the first day.
It had happened in early August, just after she finished labeling the student cubbies in her signature teal handwriting. She was driving home with a trunk full of classroom supplies when a truck ran a red light on Main and clipped her passenger side.
The injuries weren’t life-threatening, but they were life-pausing.
A broken wrist. A fractured rib. Concussion symptoms that made light and noise feel like thunder.
She was ordered to rest. And she hated it.
Back at the school, something peculiar began to happen.
Mrs. Carrow, the secretary, noticed anonymous envelopes showing up in the office inbox. They were postmarked locally, but with no return address. Inside were notes written in all different handwriting styles.
“Dear Mrs. Wren, we’re keeping your plants watered. They miss you.”
“Today, we learned about compound words and how 'homework' is one. But it didn’t feel the same without you saying it with your silly dance.”
“I sit in the desk that still has your glitter on it. I like it.”
Even the janitor, Mr. Drake, found a small basket of muffins outside the teacher’s lounge with a tag that simply read, “For whoever mops the room where she sings.”
No one knew who was organizing it. But somehow, every day that Hallie was out, someone left a little something—notes, apples, bookmarks, even a bouquet of highlighters wrapped in a paper bow.
Hallie noticed.
From her recliner at home, she read each note with tears dripping down her cheeks. Her house was quiet. But somehow, it felt like her classroom was reaching out to her.
One afternoon, Clara brought soup and sat on the porch with her.
“You know,” Clara said, sipping sweet tea, “someone came into the Gazette last week and left a letter addressed to you. It had no name, but the handwriting looked awfully familiar—fourth grade-ish.”
She handed it over. On the front was a sticky note that read: From the one who misses your story time the most.
Hallie opened it and gasped. Inside was a drawing of her, cape and all, with a classroom full of smiling kids and a chalkboard that read:
“Even heroes need rest.”
Later that week, a little mystery unraveled.
Aimee Little, the Gazette’s designer, had been doing layout for the school’s parent bulletin. While resizing an image of a school hallway, she spotted a shadow in the background. Zooming in, she noticed a group of kids in disguise—sunglasses, ball caps, holding cards and snacks.
The “Hallie Wren Kindness Operation,” someone had scribbled on a clipboard.
A covert student kindness crew.
She sent the photo to Hallie anonymously. The caption read:
You’re not just teaching us in the classroom. You’re still teaching us now.
Reflection Prompt:
Have you ever been in a season of forced rest? How did God speak to you in the stillness?
Who in your life might need a reminder that they matter—even if they’re not in their usual role?
Prayer:
Father, thank You for the gentle gift of rest, even when it arrives wrapped in inconvenience. Help me see Your presence in the quiet. Let me remember that my worth is not in what I do, but in who You say I am.
Comments
Post a Comment