Village Shepherd

They were huddled together leaning against straw stacks in a corner of the old barn, where they wouldn't be disturbed. They each had their eyes tightly shut, and were keeping their hands held firmly together.

"Please, God," prayed Ruth, "give us a dog of our very own."

Her sister and brother nodded in fervent agreement. "Yes, God, please," added Tim, for good measure.

Amanda thought she'd better say something too, in case God thought she wasn't part of it. "I want one too, God," she said.

Then they opened their eyes and looked at one another.

Tim glanced around the barn. "I can't see one yet," he said.

"Stupid!" scolded Ruth, who was the oldest and therefore more sensible than the other two. "You've got to give him a chance. Even God can't produce dogs out of the sky, you know. But it's my birthday next week. I expect he'll make sure I get a puppy, but it'll be for all three of us, not just for me."

Amanda gazed at her with shining eyes. "I can't wait," she said gleefully.

All three of them were up early on Ruth's birthday. They listened carefully for tell-tale sounds of whining, or perhaps a squeaky, puppy bark. But they couldn't hear anything. "Never mind," consoled Ruth. "I expect Mum and Dad have hidden it. Perhaps it's in the barn, or perhaps they've left it with Granny."

But when Mum and Dad got up, they gave Ruth a new bike for her birthday. She was very excited by it, but kept looking round for the puppy. In the end, Tim couldn't bear it any longer. "Where's Ruth's new puppy?" he demanded.

Mum and Dad looked at each other. Then Dad squatted down to Tim's level and said gently, "Sorry, son, we did tell you all months ago when you were on about a dog. We can't have one. It would be too much of a tie."

All three children stared at him incredulously. "You mean - you mean there isn't a puppy?" asked Amanda.

"'Fraid not," said Dad. "You've got hamsters and a cat and a gerbil. We just can't manage a dog as well. Forget about a dog, it isn't going to happen." Later that day the children gathered in their favourite spot in the barn. "We didn't do anything wrong, did we Ruth?" asked Amanda anxiously. "I closed my eyes ever so tight, and I put my hands together."

"And there were three of us, that's just the right number it says in the Bible," added Tim. "'If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.' That's what it says in the Bible."

Ruth nodded miserably. "I guess it just doesn't work," she admitted. "It's like lots of grown-up things. It just doesn't happen like they say it will." But they gradually forgot their disappointment when they discovered Mum had arranged a surprise birthday party for Ruth, and lots of friends came bringing birthday presents with them.

Years later, when Ruth was nearly grown up, the old lady who lived a few doors away rang her to ask whether Ruth could walk her dog. "I'm too old to walk much now," she said, "but Mischief still needs his exercise."

Ruth, Tim and Amanda walked the dog every day after that, and became great friends with the old lady through Mischief. When the old lady died, they took the dog home and Mischief became part of the family. Ruth enjoyed the dog so much that she went off to college to train as a veterinary assistant.

"Do you remember, Tim," asked Amanda one day, "that time we prayed in the old barn? We thought the prayer didn't work, but now I'm not so sure. If we'd had a dog then perhaps we'd have grown bored with it. Now we're older, we've all really enjoyed Mischief. And we got to know old Mrs Robinson, and she was really sweet. Perhaps it all turned out for the best, after all."

Tim nodded thoughtfully. "Isn't there somewhere in the Bible which says, 'No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.'? Perhaps when you ask something of God it does happen, but almost never in the way you expect. Perhaps we just need to learn to look out for God's answers, because they're different to our expectations."

And after that, Amanda, Tim and Ruth were all very careful about their prayers, for they knew that somehow, somewhere, sometime, their prayers would surely be answered.