The Golden Dot

Hey, folks. I’m Elliott. I wanted to tell you a story about this man named Jerome. Great guy, honestly. One of my favorites. Well, long ago, sometime in the 1940s, Jerome lived in his apartment in Manhattan. It was hard to say what his profession was – well, what he did to afford his place, that is. He always picked up strange little jobs here and there.

Ha… I remember one job he had as a cranberry farmer. He sat down across from this guy – really mean looking guy – and got through the interview just fine. The mean guy’s about to hire him when he placed his arms on his desk and leaned forward, glaring at Jerome. Jerome gets scared, starts wondering what he said wrong.

The mean guy looks at him and says, “How do you like spiders?” Jerome looks at him, all confused. Spiders? What does that have to do with farming cranberries? But, he needs the job, so he says he’s alright with them. The mean guy gets this frown on his face, and he slowly nods up and down, like a mobster. He leans back and says, “Good, good,” very ominously.

Jerome got the job; a week goes by and Jerome is working in the bog farming cranberries when suddenly he feels this itch on the back of his neck. He rips off his glove and reaches back to scratch. Instead he picks up this clump of fuzz. He opens his hand and he’s holding a massive wolf spider! I mean, Jerome flipped! He tumbled back and fell in the water, making this huge splash! But wait – when he comes back up to the surface, he looks out… there are wolf spiders everywhere! The bog is full of them!

The mean looking guy, his boss, comes running over. “You okay?”

Jerome shoots up and tries to find the space with the fewest spiders. He starts pointing at them, “Boss, there are spiders all over the cranberries!”

“I know,” the boss says back. “They’re employees of mine.”

“Employees?” Jerome asked in confusion.

The boss man explains that he put them there. Apparently, instead of spraying the cranberries with pesticides, a more natural method is to use wolf spiders to just eat the bugs! The boss man leans down and grabs Jerome by the arm to help him up. And then he brings him in reeeaaal close and says in a low voice, “Thought you said you liked spiders.”

Jerome swallowed hard. “I do.”

The boss man nods ominously again. “Good. Good. ‘Cuz if you touch one of them, you’re fired.” Well… needless to say, Jerome didn’t work there very long. Poor guy couldn’t stop itching himself and flinging spiders across the bog!

Anyway. Sorry about the tangent. I just like that story. But that’s what I liked about Jerome. He was always willing to put himself second, even at his own expense. Of course, it came back to bite him a number of times. Jerome’s real job, though, was something he wasn’t paid for. He had a passion. Jerome loved to paint. Whew… he was a darn good painter, too. He’d come home every night and work on some small canvas, and we’d stare at it for hours together. Folks, I loved watching him create. He was himself the most when he was standing on the tarnished tarp in his plain white shirt, with a hundred different paints on it; lost in the art. Mmm mmm! I loved giving him that little spark sometimes. The occasional moment of clarity. “Try yellow,” and his eyes would light up with wonder at his epiphany, and start dipping his brush in yellow, smiling wide as he suddenly saw the work coming together. Oh, it was wonderful.

Oh. I forgot to mention a little something about myself. You might be thinking I’m some friend of his, and while that’s true in a way, that’s not how I know him. No… I was Jerome’s guardian angel. The Big Man upstairs put little old Elliott in charge of looking after Jerome during his life. You’d be surprised how much standing around and watching there is! Most folks think it’s about intervening in miraculous ways and showing people something spiritual. But really it’s about being there with these folks. When something goes wrong, heck I’m right there with them during the bad times. I’ll do my best to give you a little nudge or a smidgeon of hope, if you need it. Of course, it’s up to you how you take it, or if you do. And then in the good times, boy howdy, there’s lots rejoicing. And it’s all for the Big Man’s praise. Lots of times I’ll get just as emotional as Jerome about his life – seems so difficult being a human, frankly. I’ll need a little nudge or smidgeon of hope, too; which is a little different what I get because I’m eternal and whatnot, so I always get the broader picture. Which, spoiler alert, is what this story’s about. I’ve guarded thousands and thousands of folks, and plenty after Jerome. But Jerome was a neat fellow, with a neat story. Let me tell it to you.

So, Jerome was a painter. Darn good one, too. He worked tirelessly on his art, all real pretty. He especially loved abstract. Most of the time I couldn’t quite see what Jerome intended, even though I knew his intention, being his guardian angel. Heck, even in the spiritual world art is subjective, I guess! Jerome starting working on this big canvas one night. Boy, I got real excited when I saw the size of it; I couldn’t wait to see what he was going to paint! It took him over a year to finish. Jerome hadn’t sold a painting before, didn’t have a ton of connections, but he and I thought this was it. Oh, you should’ve seen it. The richness and fullness of the color, how it transformed from deep darkness to a beautiful, wonderful light; the way he directed your eyes and then localized it on this golden dot – and not that bright yellow kind of golden, but that true 24 karat, gold bar color. It was still abstract, but my, oh my, was it real. And the best part was I didn’t do a lick to help! Jack squat! It was all Jerome, yessiree. He was just using the gifts the Big Man gave him. Jerome titled it, “Modo d’oro” or “Via d’oro,” something Italian – he was into that, foreign language and art and such. But it was supposed to say The Golden Dot. We were excited to see what was going to happen with The Golden Dot.

Now, I hate to do this – I know it’s getting real exciting – but I have to tell you about another gal. She wasn’t one of mine, but a buddy of mine named Gabriel wanted to show her to me. Hey, maybe you’ve heard of him! He’s got a real neat story in the Big Man’s Book; some wild visions with this boy named Daniel and, his claim to fame, when he told Mary – yes, that Mary – about Jesus. Gabriel’s real humble about it, too. After this, if you haven’t heard read any of Gabriel’s spots in the Big Man’s Book, go check them out! Anyways, where was I…

Oh, right! The girl Gabriel wanted to show me. Marlaina. Pretty name, isn’t it? And a pretty girl to go with it. She was sweet. Selfless, generous, funny – reeeaaal funny. Oh, but she was sad inside. She had a broken heart. Life hadn’t treated her too kind and things were getting rough for old Marlaina. In fact, and I don’t like saying this, but she didn’t like life… she was ready to throw in the towel. Well, when I saw Marlaina, I felt so hurt seeing how awful things were getting for her. Heck, it seemed unfair at times how brutal things got. I don’t know how you folks do it sometimes. I’m all about hope and faith, but sometimes, when I see what life gives you... heck, seeing humans persevere and pull through from the toughest of spots is inspiring, even to me! Well, Marlaina was in one of those ruts, the rut of all ruts. She’d had just about enough of this life. Strange thing was I didn’t know why my buddy Gabriel was so keen on showing me this one particular gal. She wasn’t even his; Gabriel’s got other business to attend to, he’s not a guardian angel. I guess the Big Man asked if I could meet Marlaina.

So. Jerome finished his masterpiece, The Golden Dot – I like that title – and started talking to different folks about showcasing it. Finally, Jerome met this woman named Dorothy; neat lady, a bit curt but nice nonetheless. Dorothy was about to host this festival for new artists to display their work. She and him got acquainted, had a few lunches together, and boom! Jerome had locked a spot! Ho ho, it was swell! Oh we rejoiced and rejoiced. I told some buddies of mine back upstairs about it – we love telling each other good news about the folks we’re watching over; it’s probably all of our favorite pass times.

Jerome got all dressed up; looked as a sharp as a pin, I tell ya. Oh, I felt so happy for him. He’d waited a real long time for an opportunity like this, and he was finally getting it. However, Dorothy told old Jerome there wasn’t going to be any compensation. He’ll have to donate his masterpiece for free. Boy. That was tough to hear. I felt so bad for my pal — he worked so darn hard on The Golden Dot and he’s supposed to just hand it over. Jerome didn’t want to, heck he wanted to tell her off. I didn’t blame him. But I didn’t know what to do. That’s when the Big Man told me to nudge Jerome. He said he wanted Jerome to donate it. So I did my best. I tried to give a little spark for Jerome that sometimes you have to start small before you end up big. The Big Man is real fond of showing folks how to be humble, and that includes giving up what you’ve got sometimes. And you know what? Old Jerome listened. He donated his best painting to Dorothy’s gallery.

Not much came of it, frankly. He was proud of it, got to meet some other art folks, found a beautiful gal that way, Evelyn, who he later married. Jerome lived a good life, despite not getting loads of success from his painting. But boy was he a happy man. And boy howdy did he listen to that nudge like no other. He lived a beautiful 88 years on that planet.

Well, you may be wondering what’s the point, Elliott? Seems like the story went nowhere! Well hold on, friend, I’ve got a little more to tell you!

Remember that pretty gal Marlaina? She was in a rut. Real bad. She was hanging on by a thread. One day she got a nudge from her angel to go for a walk. It seemed odd, she wasn’t one to go out much. But she listened to that nudge and took a stroll. While she walked she passed by an art exhibit. She felt a nudge. Go check it out.

Marlaina walked into that art exhibit and saw all kinds of paintings and sketches, even some sculptures, too. She looked at them all, not really sure why she was taking so much time in this exhibit. She stopped at each painting, nonetheless. Carefully studying each detail of each painting. Then she got to the end of the wall she was looking at. There in the corner was The Golden Dot. When she laid eyes on that painting, she felt an emotional connection. Something about this work of art resonated with her. The way the brush strokes lead the eyes to that golden dot. How no matter how dark any part of the canvas was, it always lead it’s way out of the darkness and towards the golden light. The rich colors that circled around that dot. The beauty that came out of the deep dark, which made the dot that much more beautiful.

When Marlaina read the plaque about the artist, she read a little about old Jerome. It even mentioned a few words about his experience as a cranberry farmer. She read that he had passed away only three years ago. Ain’t that just the way it goes. Rarely do living artists get the credit they’ve worked so hard for — it’s always after they’ve passed do people realize what they’ve done. But Jerome did something for Marlaina. She found a golden dot that showed her there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. A smidgeon of hope to keep going. Keep going Marlaina, it’s going to be okay.

When I told that story to my buddies — they made fun of me! All in good fun, but they asked me where I’d been! That’s been going on since humans have been alive, they said! The smallest things most of the time never knowing why or how or even if it’ll help someone often does. Just when all seems lost, something goes right, where you least expect it. All seems part of the Big Man’s plan, doesn’t it? Heck, some of my buddies have told me that people have found their golden dots centuries apart! A fellow might come across something that another fellow did before their time, and it’ll do the trick. Some of them don’t even realize they found a golden dot til years and years later.

Oh, and folks... when Jerome came up to join me in the great sky on that day... whew. We hugged and hugged. I was so proud of my pal. It was like a reunion and an introduction put together into one. And then I showed him. I showed him his masterpiece framed on that wall with hundreds of people admiring it. I told him how successful he’d become. I told him about Marlaina. How she found a smidgeon of hope in that golden dot — that sometimes when that happens to other folks, I like to call it “finding your golden dot.” Oh... you should’ve seen his face...

That little moment of hope to give Marlaina the push she needed, to keep waking up each day, ended up paying dividends. Much later, Marlaina was teaching a student — she had become such a fine English teacher for the little ones — and this student couldn’t quite get a grasp at it. She took a few nights tutoring this student and helping her figure out spelling and contractions and all that jazz kids gotta learn to write good. The student’s mom one day gave Marlaina a call. She told Marlaina how much it meant to her to invest in her child the way that she had, and how far she had come because of it. More importantly, it helped her continue to believe in her daughter. She found her golden dot through Marlaina’s kindness.

And folks, it’s keep going from there. One after the other, in some way or another, someone’s touched a fellow person and in turn helped someone else. Heck, I wonder if you’ve been touched by someone that’s been touched going all the way back to that painting. That’d be neat, huh? It’s happens millions and millions of times — truthfully, I’ve seen it a ton before old Jerome. But there was something about that painting that seemed to paint that picture better than others, no pun intended. If I was to sum it all up, for you, I’d say that the Big Man is rooting for you. We’ll give you a nudge to steer you where you gotta go, and as long as you listen to that nudge, you’ll find your golden dot. And when that day comes and you get to join us upstairs in the sky, we can’t wait to show you what you did. How you made us all so happy. How you made the Big Man proud of you. Heck, some of you reading this might even be mine, and I’ll get to show you myself. That’d be neat.

If you need a little push, friend, hang in there. You’ll find your golden dot soon. All that darkness you’re in leads back to the light. The Big Man’s rooting for you.

-Elliott