Are you sweetly or stressfully counting down to Christmas? While most people dream of white Christmases with wonderful celebrations of families gathered around twinkling trees and gifts galore, there are those who dread the countdown to the glorious day of Jesus’ birth when all is not well with their souls and situations!
Christmas brings out the child in all people – no matter the age or attitude, situation or season of life! How sad to think there are children not anticipating a two week holiday or counting down to Christmas. Reflecting on Christmases past, two precious children in pitiful situations come to mind. During my first year teaching school in Cumberland County, my love for Christmas was contagious in my fourth grade classroom. Drawing names with a five dollar limit on gifts seemed the perfect way to bring joy to each of my sweet students. However, when the long awaited holiday party came, opening gifts brought burdens instead of blessings. Four students in my class called Falcon Orphanage home and had limited means of getting gifts. Yet, they drew names and met the challenge of securing a gift by re-gifting. It never crossed my mind this could present a problem until one little girl (who brought a very expensive gift) opened her gift from a lovely, young lass from the orphanage, screamed, and threw it across my classroom. I froze as tears flowed and God taught me a lesson laced with holiday humility and haughtiness. My team teacher heard the commotion and came to my rescue. He invited my students to his class party while I soothed two brokenhearted little girls: one had the world on a string; the other had little to make her world merry and bright.
Sylvia’s gift was a piece of wood she found on the playground at the orphanage. She sanded, painted, and wrote ‘Merry Christmas’ on it. Her friend refused to pick up the meager gift. Instead, she stood with arms crossed, hands over ears, and heart hardened to the little girl who gave her best. Making the most of our miserable situation, I pulled both girls close to me and wept with them. Then, I quietly asked God to help us make things right before being dismissed for the long awaited holiday. I prayed without them hearing a word of my plea for the Lord to fix the mess I felt responsible for making. The three of us embraced silently. Sharing about baby Jesus in a manger made of wood and how homemade gifts are sometimes the best slowly brought sniffles and smiles. Soon, we were bear hugging and healing was happening in spite of our spoiled party.
Then, Sylvia looked into my eyes and asked if she could go home with me for the holidays. She explained how children from the orphanage are allowed to spend Christmas with families but she had not been chosen by a family that year. Her friend and I listened as Sylvia shared why she was living at the orphanage. Her mother was kidnapped, leaving four children with no one to care for them. Falcon Children’s Home became home, and a few months before Christmas, Sylvia found out her mother’s body was found in a bag on the bank of the Ohio River. She and her siblings had no family to adopt them, so the four of them were thankful to have a safe place to grow at Falcon Children’s Home. Sylvia’s friend and teacher wiped tears and wrapped our arms around the tall, skinny girl who humbly taught us lessons on loving and cherishing home and family. Then, the bell rang and kids ran to my room to retrieve book bags and gifts. With no time for hugs, they rushed out the door for a bus ride that would take them home for the holidays. Sylvia’s eyes met mine as she boarded the bus carrying students to the children’s home. She cried; I sighed! Writing this story forty four years later, I still feel the pain of wanting to pull her off the bus and take her home with me.
Driving home after an emotional day at school, my emotions were tangled up like the lights Tim and I hung the night before on the little Christmas tree in our mobile home. We were thrilled with excitement to be celebrating our first Christmas as man and wife; I was on cloud nine with a two great gifts: my husband and a home of our own for Christmas 1979. Sylvia’s story made me appreciate Christmas with my family even more. Every holiday season I find myself thinking of and praying for Sylvia, the little girl who taught me to cherish my loved ones and my home even more.
Another holiday season found me promising to take a student home after school if his work and behavior did not improve. Finally, one day I made good on that promise and drove the student to his home a few miles from our school. He begged me not to go inside as we drove down the winding path to his home. My desire was to help him by making his parents aware of his poor conduct and grades. When I knocked, he stood beside me looking down as his mother opened the door and welcomed me into their home. He rushed into another room while his mother tried to cover up a huge hole in the living room floor with a nearby rug. I could still see the ground where chickens ran underneath their home as she apologized and asked me to have a seat. I shared why I was there. She told me she and her husband would take care of the problems their son had caused in my classroom. Then, God opened my heart for a love lesson from a woman who managed four daughters, two sons, and a husband in a small house where children took turns sleeping on the couch, one bed, and the floor. She told of hard times in her humble abode. Yet, a sweet spirit filled the small room where we fellowshipped, and I knew it was the spirit of the Lord. That home visit taught lessons about family humility and happiness in spite of hardships. My student’s behavior improved, I became a more discerning teacher, and the Christmas story came alive in a whole new way.
God could have given His Son an elaborate abode in which to be born; yet, it was a smelly stable with a dirty manger filled with hay and animals watching where Joseph and Mary witnessed the birth of baby Jesus. He entered the world in a lowly setting with humility and honor wrapping him in swaddling clothes.
With Christmas coming soon, may we embrace lessons learned in life’s classrooms as we celebrate the birthday of God’s Son, Jesus – our Savior, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who sits by His Father’s side in Heaven, longs to live in our hearts, and loves being welcomed into our homes.