sunday, 12/16/07

it was the children's holiday program at church this morning. there was no sermon-- only the children's program and christmas carols. dad slept thru most of the service-- he couldn't follow the carols-- he did, however, say the lord's prayer in it's entirety. yes!!!

there was a visitor to the church who sat next to me. a couple of times he leaned over to ask a question of me... he didn't sing the carols either... in the middle of the program, something overcame him and he started wiping his eyes and sniffling. at first i wasn't sure he wasn't just fighting a cold-- i ignored the noises. it wasn't long before i realized the noises stopped-- it wasn't a cold-- this man was hurtin'. i was glad he was spending the morning with us-- it seemed to be something he needed.

i've been there-- in "that" place. i zoned from today's program shortly after the noises started and stopped... i went back to "that" time. i tried to recall if i hoped people would ignore what they were seeing or hearing from me at that moment-- or if i was needing to have someone simply be nice in some non-embarrassing way. i think i needed both-- but how does one do that?!!

being that this visitor was a grown man-- and he was sitting alone... i felt it best to try and do both things-- ignore the moment of weakness but be nice in some way.

at the end of the service when the goodbyes were being made, i turned to him, introduced dad and myself and told him i hoped he would join us again. his eyes lit up and a genuine smile grew wide-- he said he will definitely be back.

i pray this man found something really good in his life today.... that whatever hurt so bad heals soon. something like this maybe....

"Gold Wrapping Paper"

I received this from a friend who had a choice to make. It said that I had a choice to make too.
I've chosen. Now it's your turn to choose.

The story goes that some time ago a mother punished her five year old daughter for wasting a roll of expensive gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and she became even more upset when the child used the gold paper to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.

Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift box to her mother the next morning and then said, "This is for you, Momma."The mother was embarrassed by her earlier over reaction, but her anger flared again when she opened the box and found it was empty. She spoke to her daughter in a harsh manner."Don't you know, you ng lady, when you give someone a present there's supposed to be something inside the package?"

She had tears in her eyes and said, "Oh, Momma, it's not empty! I blew kisses into it until it was full."The mother was crushed. She fell on her knees and put her arms around her little girl, and she begged her forgiveness for her thoughtless anger.

An accident took the life of the child only a short time later, and it is told that the mother kept that gold box by her bed for all the years of her life.

Whenever she was discouraged or faced difficult problems she would open the box and take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

In a very real sense, each of us, as human beings, have been given a Golden box filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family, friends and GOD. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.