Charlie started enjoying life again. He stopped having dreams about his friends being mean to him. His friends had not changed, but he was OK with that.
Charlie called Larry on the phone, “Hey, Larry. I want to walk with you and Lisa to school tomorrow.”

Larry responded, “Great. See you in the morning.”

——

On the way to school, Charlie said, “Hey, Lisa, I forgot to tell you that I saw the drawing you gave Grandpa. It is fantastic.”

Lisa responded, “Thanks, Charlie. I was a little bit anxious…”

Larry interrupted, “More like stressed out.”

Lisa started again, “I was a little bit anxious to share the drawing with Grandpa, because I wanted it to be something that would bring him joy. I later realized that the joy comes from Jesus. But we can do things to remind each other that the joy is always available if we want to receive it.”

Larry asked, “How are you doing, Charlie? You seem to be enjoying Jesus’ hidden joy as well. I know it must still be hard for you since your grandmother died. Anytime you wanna talk, we are here for you.”

Lisa added, “And you can cry, if you want to.”

Charlie responded, “Thanks, you two really are true friends. Thanks for sticking with me.”

Larry said, “We are glad to. But you’re gonna have to start laughing at my jokes, again.“

Charlie responded, “Only the ones that are funny.”

Lisa said, “I didn’t know that any of them were funny.”