God’s Ways Are Always Perfect

A Spiritual Fiction.

There lived a man in his late forties named Ram. Unlike the meaning of his name, he was an atheist. His day job was to keep the place of worship clean and tidy.

Every day, he used to see hundreds of devotees flooding the worship place. “What a fool everyone is!” thought he, sweeping and cleaning the floor.

But he was a kind-hearted soul. Often he used to think, “How tired the God would be answering everyone’s prayers!”

One day, Ram went up to God and said, “You work day and night; you work so hard without relaxing. So, take a day off from your work.”

God smiled at his innocent, pure heart and replied, “I would be happy to take a day off if you accept my position as God. Would you be willing to fill into my shoes?”

“However, there’s one condition — You have to keep smiling without uttering a single word all day long, no matter what,” added God.

The next day, Ram assumed God’s position. Smiling at every devotee offering prayers, Ram enjoyed his stint.

Then comes a rich man. He bowed down and offered his wallet full of money to thank God for gifting him all the luxuries of life. Ram watched the whole scene and kept smiling, but sarcastically.

After some time, there walked in a poor man. He kept sobbing in distress. He had nothing to eat or had any money to feed his children except for a dime. To express his respect and love for God, he offered that dime to God, bowing down his head. As soon as he lifted his head, he found a wallet stuffed with dollars lying in front of him.

“Miracle, miracle! he whispered. Thinking that God had answered his prayers, the poor man lifted the wallet and happily left to feed his starving children. Ram wanted to speak a thousand words but remained silent, owing to the promise made to God.

After a while, a devotee walked in to seek blessings for his first-ever sea voyage. The moment he stood up from his prayer, he saw the policeman and the rich man standing to arrest him.

“Grab him before he runs away; put him behind bars. He is the one who stole my wallet.” shouted that rich man to seek old revenge from the sailor.

Ram was the witness to the whole scene. This time, he could not tolerate the sailor's injustice and told the policeman the entire truth.

Then, the policeman arrested the poor man with the wallet and released the sailor. The rich man left with his wallet, and the sailor embarked upon his first journey.

“Everything is sorted,” thought Ram. He felt elated, rendering justice to God’s believers.

Being excited about his noble doings, Ram narrated the whole day’s incident to God. God thanked Ram for his service but also told him that he had committed a blunder.

Ram was startled, “How can God not acknowledge my altruistic behavior?”

Reading Ram’s expressions, God explained everything.

God said, “The rich man had earned a great fortune through illegal means. Since he bowed down before God, his sins were forgiven. The rich man’s wallet would have served the poor man’s needs, who had come to offer the last savings (dime) to God. On the other hand, the sailor who had come to seek blessings was going to die that night due to a sea-storm. If you could have kept mum, you could have saved his life by allowing him to spend that night at the prison.”

God further exclaimed — “But, due to your foolishness, the sailor lost his life, the poor man could not feed his children, while the rich man walked away by keeping his money earned by unfair means.”

Ram was stunned. He stood there in silence, not knowing what to do, what to say and how to apologize.

Though Ram was an atheist, his faith was restored.

He began to believe that “Everything happens for a good reason. Leaving everything in God’s hands by trusting his ways is the only way miracles happen in life”.

I grew up hearing this story from my parents, and grandparents. Every time, I had a new takeaway and a new divine insight.

Now, it’s your turn.

The Prompt for the Week: “_______”

Fill in the blank with your takeaway. This week you can decide what you want to write about.

Spirituality is a vast topic and I want to peep into your wisdom through your divine insights.

Let your creativity explain spirituality!

Please don’t forget to tag me so that I don’t miss reading it.

Publishing Day for Prompt-Based Stories: March 20, 2021

We would publish all the prompt-based stories on Saturdays only. The rest of the articles would get published from Sundays till Fridays.

We call it Spiritual Saturdays.

Please send us stories before Saturday 12:00 am (March 20, 2021) (GMT-6) if you wish to participate.

Also, don’t forget to mention if your story is based on the prompt.

Thank you all!

Priyanka Srivastava Bernadette DeCarlo Chris Carter Ravyne Hawke Pretheesh Presannan Paul Mulliner Gurpreet Dhariwal Patrick Paul Garlinger 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘊. Lanu Pitan Roxana Anton Kevin Doberstein Shreya Badonia Indubala Kachhawa Ramandeep Singh (नूर) Ruchi Thalwal Ana-Maria Schweitzeria A J.D. Ranade Manasi Diwakar Vishnu*s Virtues Rhonda Skinner Alan Lew Kendra Lavelle Abhay Srivastav Claire Elaine Vanessa Ozigbo Suryatapa Varun Jain Shirley Willett Julene Cole Sharon Brandon (Readywriter59) Ivette Cruz Afiyah The Poet J.D. Ranade Isha Tewari Srivastava Elies Hadi Michelle Berry Lane Julene Cole Beth Stormont Jamie Golob Judy J Lutz Chelsea London Christina Meier Ph.D Vedanth Maheshwari Kimberly Fosu Tima Loku Jasmine Soumana Artemis Inks Amy Jasek Warren Bischoff Khyati Jain Vishié Ricky Lyman Chelsea Cristoffor Uday_neutron Wolfie Bain Johannes Mudi Avis J. Williams Pene Hodge Wonder Compass: Mindful Journeys of Art & Nature Keith Hill John Green Aaron Quist Anya Light I. Trudie Palmer Emily Jennings LS Laura Culberg John C Davis K. Barrett