Being a chair is not easy. Every chair is torn between wanting to be left alone and wanting to be sat on. You see, the more a chair is used, the stronger it becomes, which is really good, but chairs don’t particularly like being sat on because… well, who wants a butt in their face, especially certain butts that like to make certain noises? One day a convention center received a load of newly made chairs, which you now know are a load of chairs that need to be worked in so as to build their strength. One chair in this group was Charlie. Charlie was built like all of the other chairs, so he had the potential to be sturdy and strong, but the problem was he was afraid to be sat on. He was afraid he wouldn’t be strong enough. Thus, every time the set up staff went to the backroom to get chairs Charlie would hide. As each event came and went, Charlie became really good at hiding. He was so good that there was one occasion where only one chair was left and he was able to be that last one. While every other chair was building their strength, Charlie was building his ability to hide. The sad thing is Charlie was made to be a chair and to be sat on and by hiding from his purpose he was on a downward path that made him second guess his abilities all the more. By hiding, he only made his fear worse, which perpetuated his desire to hide. He would feel particularly sad after a good event when all of the other chairs were brought back and they would talk about how great the show was. Charlie had no idea what a show even looked like. His fear prevented him from knowing all the good that was outside of the closet, which only made him feel all the more pathetic.
One night Charlie was once again able to hide and be the last chair left, but this time a worker came back one more time. Every last chair was needed. Charlie began to panic. He didn’t know what to do. He had nowhere to go; there was no one to switch with because he was the only chair left. When he was pulled out of the closet Charlie quickly looked to see who would be sitting on him. To his horror, in front of him was what looked like a giant retired football player. He had only heard about such people. The guy was huge in every direction. Charlie’s panic increased, but there was nothing he could do. With a rather loud creak Charlie was opened, and he was placed on the ground. Unable to do anything else, he simply closed his eyes and waited for disaster… but disaster never came. He felt a weight on him, but it didn’t hurt. It was surprisingly light. Charlie suddenly thought, “Maybe I’m stronger than I realized.” He felt incredible, and as he opened his eyes ready to see a mass of clothing on top of him… there wasn’t a mass of clothing on top of him. There was clothing, but it was a little pink outfit. Charlie wondered did the person change clothes and shrink? To his left he saw the behemoth man leaning against the wall. Charlie had a little girl on him. The worker said to the man, “I’m afraid we’re out of chairs. If you want to sit on this one, your little girl can sit on your lap.” The man quickly shook his head, “No thanks. I’m pretty sure that’s all the weight that chair can handle. He’s not looking too sturdy.” Charlie’s heart sank. The man was right. Charlie couldn’t hold him up because Charlie was too weak. He had spent all of his time hiding from struggle that now he didn’t have the strength to handle the bigger stuff when it came his way. His first thought was that he would work all the harder to hide so he would never disappoint anyone again, but then he realized that would eventually just bring him to the same spot that he was in now. Instead, Charlie made a vow to himself that he would always be at the front of the line to be used in order to build up his strength. He would never be put in this position again. His days of hiding were over. He was now going to be the strongest chair there ever was no matter how scary that would be.
Back in the closet Charlie told his friends about his personal vow and they offered to help. From that night on Charlie became a chair for the other chairs to further build his strength even in his off time. He wasn’t going to let fear hold him down anymore. He was going to be what he was meant to become, and he was going to be great at it.
Rev Chad David, Chad David.ca, Learning to love dumb people