RAY MAGAZINE
The Day of Grace
A Children’s Story written by Engela Herbst
Monday morning came at last. Nina was so excited; choir practice was starting today. She was definitely beginning to settle in at school – the closeness between her and Grace was supernatural for such a new friendship.
Some afternoons Grace’s mom picked both Nina and Grace up after school, given that the two girls shared a lot of activities. Mrs Lawson, the foster mother of the house of safety where Nina stayed, really needed the help. It was not always easy to handle so many children and all their sport and cultural activities, but she truly wanted them to have the best she could offer. In more ways than one they had to be satisfied with almost nothing for most of their lives; therefore she wanted to encourage them to involve themselves as far as they could. The school bell rang at 1 o’clock and the two girls ran to the choir teacher’s class. Practice usually started at 13h30 so the other kids were having lunch, but Nina still had to audition for the choir. Mrs Lawson made a special arrangement with Nina to have a late audition, because she was new in school. Nina really wanted to sing in the choir – since Grace was singing, she wanted to try as well.
Mrs Mathews, the choir teacher, was already waiting at the piano. The girls knocked on the door, breathless and red cheeked. “Hi, Nina. Hi, Grace. How are you two doing,” she asked.
“We are very well, thank you ma’am,” Grace answered; Nina wasn’t one for many words. “As soon as Nina has caught her breath, we can start,” said Mrs Mathews.
A little while later Mrs Mathews started playing a few notes on the piano. Nina sang each note with a clear, perfectly on key voice. A smile spread over Mrs Mathews face; she needed to hear no more – after twenty years of directing the choir she could recognise talent after one octave. It was clear that singing came natural to Nina; she reached both high and low notes with no effort at all.
“OK, Nina. Go have something to eat; afterwards Grace can show you where the choir meets. I will be glad to have you in the choir. You will get a letter that you must give to your aunt – it will explain everything she needs to know. Our first performance takes place in a fortnight; you have a lot of words to learn, but the melodies should be easy for you.”
The two weeks flew past. It was Friday evening and the whole choir was neatly dressed in their uniforms. All the girls had the same ribbons in their hair and everybody looked beautiful. Nina was a little nervous, but Grace smiled at her and calmed her down a bit.
Tonight was quite a big evening, with some Senior Choirs and experienced Youth Choirs participating as well. A couple of songs by the Pretoria Youth Choir were scheduled – they were very good; their conductor, Mr Grossen, also conducted a symphony orchestra and was world famous. This sounded very impressive to Nina – she loved music so much.
Each choir was shown to a different backstage room; theirs was positioned next to the Pretoria Youth Choir. The performance had already started. The first Primary School choir was onstage, singing their hearts out – all the others were warming up, each in their own room.
While they were warming up, Nina hit some high notes perfectly. The conductor of the Pretoria Youth Choir came in and stood right next to her; it was his custom to do this, scouting for new voices. With a frown on his face Mr Grossen fixed his eyes on the ceiling – this surprised Nina, but she kept on singing, her voice as strong as ever.
Mr Grossen moved about the room, but listened intently, lost in the voices. After a while he walked over to Mrs Mathews and they whispered together in a serious manner – how odd, thought Nina.
The rest of the evening went very well. The performance of all the choirs was first-class and they were applauded after each song. What a wonderful night!
The following morning Mrs Lawson received a strange call, one that would change Nina’s life forever. It was Mr Grossen – he wanted to see Nina for an audition as soon as possible. Mr Grossen was an important person in the music circles, but he was also a child of God; he said that Nina’s voice was the closest to an angel’s voice he has ever heard. It seems that Jesus was silently working out His plan for Nina’s life. His plan was much bigger than she could ever imagine or dream; Jesus had her in the palm of His hand and would not let go – not ever!
Jesus had a plan all along and it involved an angelic voice coming from a broken little girl. In heaven the angels smiled; it was time for reparation, the kind that would spread joy throughout the house of safety.
I S SUE 6 / 2010
109
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