The Birthday Gift
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One Sunday morning, which also happened to be Christmas morning, a little girl heard the story of Jesus Birth in her Sunday school Class. Excited by the gifts that the three wise men had brought the Baby Jesus, she ran home to plan her own gift for the birthday of Jesus.
She sat all of her dolls in the broken and tattered chairs around her little tea table. She had made the table from an old wire spool she had found in an alley. There was Susie, with her broken arm, and Sad Sarah who had permanent tears running down her face. There was Dizzy, her cross-eyed bear, and her lion friend that didn't have a tail anymore. It looked more like a Doctor's waiting room than it did a birthday party.
Undaunted, the little girl pressed on. She set the table with little cups made of orange juice cans, and her plates that she had made of plastic lids. Her teapot was a cracked pitcher that someone had thrown away. After everything was in place, she looked over the setting. It all looked just right to her.
Everyone was waiting patiently for the Birthday Party for Jesus. "Now," she thought, "what can I give him?" She looked around the room. Nothing in here looked good enough for THE gift. She went into the living room. Mom was asleep on the couch they had been given a couple of years ago, she knew better than to wake her up. She rubbed her cheek, remembering the slap that she had received when she had told her mother that she was leaving for Sunday school.
There wasn't much of anything left in the house. Mom had either sold it, or Dad had taken it when he left? At least that is what Mama had said. She couldn't really remember her dad because he had left long ago."Before you could ever even walk," Mama had said.
Getting back to her search, she continued to look around the room. Finding nothing there, she went into the kitchen. The cabinets were pretty well empty. The open doors showed her that at a glance. She watched as a roach crawled across the sink and into the spoon drawer.
"That one was a boy," she thought to herself. A friend of her mother's that had stayed with them for a while had showed her the difference. He had said that the boys had two spears sticking out of their back ends. "Just like a man to carry weapons," he had laughed. She had thought it funny then too.
Looking in the refrigerator, she found that there wasn't anything good enough even for a mouse. Going out the back door, the little girl looked around. She remembered the Christmas Story her Sunday school teacher had taught her. She knew that she could never find anything as wonderful as the gifts that Jesus had received on that first Christmas night. There had to be something, though, that she could give Jesus that would please Him.
She walked down the alley. It was late afternoon by now, and starting to get a bit chilly. She pulled her shirt over her fingers as far as she could, wrapping her arms across her growling tummy. The shadows were growing longer and spookier. She didn't like shadows. They were so dark and sometimes looked as if they had long, sharp teeth. They never looked friendly. Even the shadows of her dolls looked scary at night. She thought that the shadows must be their evil twins coming out of them. The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became.
She turned around to start home. Suddenly, something caught her eye. She thought that she saw something move behind the trash bin. She knew that there were often stray cats that would rummage around in the trash. The little girl walked closer, and saw a little shoe attached to a small leg. Looking behind the dumpster, she saw a small person.
They looked at each other a few moments, neither saying a word. The little girl didn't feel afraid of the person standing in front of her. She finally broke the silence with, "Hi! What are you doing here? Were you watching me? Where do you live? Oh, I'm sorry. My Mama says I ask to many questions. It's probably because I don't have anyone to talk to at my house. I do talk to Susie and Katy, though. They are my dolls."
Slowly the little person behind the dumpster raised a hand and placed it on the shoulder of the little girl. "Do you know the Christmas Story?"
The little girl nodded her head, "Yes."
"Do you know what happened to Jesus when He grew up?" the little person continued. "He was tortured and nailed to a Cross. He died there because He loved the people of this world so much. He wanted to take away their sins so that they could go to heaven to live with Him. He was the Son of God and sinless. He took YOUR sins on Himself. Now, all you have to do to have Jesus come into your heart is believe that He is the Son of God and ask Him to take away your sins."
The little girl thought she remembered hearing her Sunday school teacher say something like that.
Continuing, the little person said, "You really need to go home now, ^**^. Your mother will be concerned."
The little girl thought that she had heard her name, but that couldn't be because she had never seen or met the person before.
Turning and looking down the alley, she could see that it really was getting to dark to be out. Turning back to say her good byes, she found herself to be quite alone. She hurried down the alley toward home, feeling the cold all too well.
As she went on her way, she thought about the strange meeting that she had just had. "Had she ever asked Jesus into her heart? Had she ever asked Jesus to forgiver her of the things that she had done wrong?" Some of those things flashed through her head, so she stopped for a moment, bowed her head and closed her eyes,. "Jesus," she said. "I believe in you, and I am sorry for the things that I have done bad. Please forgive me. Come live in my heart."
Just as she finished, she heard something behind her. She turned around, but didn't see anything. Turning back around, she hurried on home, wondering if Jesus had heard her, but not feeling afraid anymore.
When she reached the door, she noticed that all the lights were on in the house. Opening the door, she saw her mother sitting on the couch with her face buried in her hands. The little girl sat down next to her mother. "Mommy, are you alright?"
Her mother put her arms around her and pulled her close. "I had a dream, and it was SO real. I was lying on the couch, but I could see you walking down an alley. I saw someone coming up behind you. I saw what looked like a giant of a man with a ski-mask. He stabbed you over and over and over again. I couldn't move off of the couch. It was HORRIBLE!"
Holding her close, her mother told her, "I couldn't stand it if anything had happened to you! You are the only good thing that I have in my life."
The little girl hugged her mother tightly, and told her mother about what had happened to her. She started with her morning at Sunday school, and ended with her prayer in that alley where she had asked Jesus to come into her life.
Her mother just sat there, speechless for a few moments, then began to weep again.
"I didn't mean to make you sad, Mommy. I thought it would make you happy to know that things didn't happen like you had seen them in your dream. The little person didn't hurt me, and I didn't feel afraid at all."
Her mother raised her head. "Honey, there is one thing that I didn't tell you about my dream. In it I started screaming, 'God, help her. Jesus, help my baby girl.' That is when I woke up. You said that you prayed and asked Jesus to forgive you and to come and live in your heart? Do you think that he would want me to do that too?"
"Yes, Mommy."
After they prayed together, they started to laugh. They laughed and laughed, and even fell off of the couch because they were laughing so hard. The little girl could not remember her mother ever being so happy or being so pretty.
"I feel so different," her mother told her. "I can't explain how, I just do!"
"Mommy, I almost forgot?" the little girl said, grabbing her mother's hand and dragging her into the bedroom.
"Look, I was setting up for a birthday party for Jesus. It is His birthday today. I was looking for a really good gift for Him like those smart men had brought, but I couldn't find anything that was right." The little girl hung her head.
Mom squeezed her hand and said, "You know what, I think that you have given Jesus the best gift you could ever have give Him."
The little girl looked up into her mother's eyes, not quite understanding what her mother was telling her.
"Baby girl, you have given Jesus your heart tonight, and got me to do the same thing. I think He will think that is The Best Gift of all.
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