If you want to get me squalling like a baby at Christmas time then you need to put on the Christmas song, "Christmas Shoes" by Newsong. This song rips me off the frame every time I hear it and it reminds me of what Christmas really is. It reminds me of a story my father use to tell about a Scroogey man...on on Christmas Eve. The story went like this:
"I hurried into the local department store to grab some last
minute Christmas gifts. I looked at all the people and grumbled to myself. I
would be in here forever and I just had so much to do.
Christmas was beginning to become such a drag. I kinda wished that I could just
sleep through Christmas. But I hurried the best I could through all the people
to the toy department. Once again I kind of mumbled to myself at the prices of
all these toys. And wondered if the grandkids would even play with them. I found myself in the doll aisle. Out of the corner of my eye I
saw a little boy about 5 holding a lovely doll. He kept touching her hair and he
held her so gently. I could not seem to help myself. I just kept looking over at
the little boy and wondered who the doll was for. I watched him turn to a woman
and he called his aunt by name and said, "Are you sure I don't have enough
money" She replied a bit impatiently, "You know that you don't have enough money
for it. The aunt told the little boy not to go anywhere that she had to go get
some other things and would be back in a few minutes. And then she left the
aisle. The boy continued to hold the doll.
After a bit I asked the boy who the doll was for. He said, "It
is the doll my sister wanted so badly for Christmas. She just knew that Santa
would bring it." I told him that maybe Santa was going
to bring it. He said "No, Santa can't go where my sister is...I have to give the
doll to my Momma to take to her". I asked him where his sister was.
He looked at me with the saddest eyes and said "She has gone to
be with Jesus". My Daddy says that Momma is going to have to go be with her. My
heart nearly stopped beating. Then the boy looked at me again and said, "I told
my Daddy to tell Momma not to go yet. I told him to tell her to wait till I got
back from the store". Then he asked me if I wanted to see his picture. I told
him I would love to. He pulled out some pictures he'd had taken at the front of
the store. He said "I want my Momma to take this with her so she don't ever
forget me." "I love my Momma so very much and I wish she did not have to leave
me". "But Daddy says she will need to be with my sister."
I saw that the little boy had lowered his head and had grown so
very quiet. While he was not looking I reached into my purse and pulled out a
handfull of bills. I asked the little boy, "Shall we count that money one more
time?" He grew excited and said "Yes, I just know it has to be enough". So I
slipped my money in with his and we began to count it.
Of course it was plenty for the doll. He softly said, "Thank
you Jesus for giving me enough money." Then the boy said "I just asked Jesus to
give me enough money to buy this doll so Momma can take it with her to give to
my sister." "And he heard my prayer". "I wanted to ask him for enough to buy my
Momma a white rose, but I didn't ask him, but he gave me enough to buy the doll
and a rose for my Momma." "She loves white roses so very very much".
In a few minutes the aunt came back and I wheeled my cart away.
I could not keep from thinking about the little boy as I finished my shopping in
a totally different spirit than when I had started. And I kept remembering a
story I had seen in the newspaper several days earlier about a drunk driver
hitting a car and killing a little girl and the Mother was in serious condition.
The family was deciding on rather to remove the life support. Now surely this
little boy did not belong with that story.
Two days later I read in the paper where the family had
disconnected the life support and the young woman had died. I could not forget
the little boy and just kept wondering if the two were somehow connected. Later
that day, I could not help myself and I went out and bought some white roses and
took them to the funeral home where the young woman was. And there she was
holding a lovely white rose, the beautiful doll, and the picture of the little
boy in the store. I left there in tears, my life changed forever. The love that
little boy had for his little sister and his mother was overwhelming. And in a
split second a drunk driver had ripped the life of that little boy to pieces.
"We make a living by what we get; We make a life by what we give."
AMEN and AMEN!
To Joey, With Love....WINNER!
7 years ago
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