Bobby was getting cold sitting out in his back yard in the
snow. Bobby didn't wear boots; he didn't like them and anyway he didn't own
any. The thin sneakers he wore had a few holes in them and they did a poor job
of keeping out the cold. Bobby had been in his backyard for about an hour
already. And, try as he might, he could not come up with an idea for his
mother's Christmas gift. He shook his head as he thought, "This is
useless, even if I do come up with an idea, I don't have any money to
spend."
Ever since his father had passed away three years ago, the
family of five had struggled. It wasn't because his mother didn't care, or try,
there just never seemed to be enough. She worked nights at the hospital, but
the small wage that she was earning could only be stretched so far.
What the family lacked in money and material things, they
more than made up for in love and family unity. Bobby had two older and one
younger sister, who ran the house hold in their mother's absence. All three of
his sisters had already made beautiful gifts for their mother. Somehow it just
wasn't fair. Here it was Christmas Eve already, and he had nothing.
Wiping a tear from his eye, Bobby kicked the snow and
started to walk down to the street where the shops and stores were. It wasn't
easy being six without a father, especially when he needed a man to talk to.
Bobby walked from shop to shop, looking into each decorated window.
Everything seemed so beautiful and so out of reach.
It was starting to get dark and Bobby reluctantly turned to
walk home when suddenly his eyes caught the glimmer of the setting sun's rays
reflecting off of something along the curb. He reached down and discovered a
shiny dime. Never before has anyone felt so wealthy as Bobby felt at that
moment.
As he held his new-found treasure, a warmth spread
throughout his entire body and he walked into the first store he saw. His
excitement quickly turned cold when the salesperson told him that he couldn't
buy anything with only a dime.
He saw a flower shop and went inside to wait in line. When
the shop owner asked if he could help him, Bobby presented the dime and asked
if he could buy one flower for his mother's Christmas gift. The shop owner
looked at Bobby and his ten cent offering.
Then he put his hand on Bobby's shoulder and said to him,
"You just wait here and I'll see what I can do for you." As Bobby
waited he looked at the beautiful flowers and even though he was a boy, he
could see why mothers and girls liked flowers.
The sound of the door closing as the last customer left,
jolted Bobby back to reality. All alone in the shop, Bobby began to feel alone
and afraid. Suddenly the shop owner came out and moved to the counter.
There, before Bobby's eyes, lay twelve long stem, red roses,
with leaves of green and tiny white flowers all tied together with a big silver
bow. Bobby's heart sank as the owner picked them up and placed them gently into
a long white box.
"That will be ten cents young man," the shop owner
said reaching out his hand for the dime. Slowly, Bobby moved his hand to give
the man his dime. Could this be true? No one else would give him a thing for
his dime!
Sensing the boy's reluctance, the shop owner added, "I
just happened to have some roses on sale for ten cents a dozen. Would you like
them?"
This time Bobby did not hesitate, and when the man placed
the long box into his hands, he knew it was true. Walking out the door that the
owner was holding for Bobby, he heard the shop keeper say, "Merry
Christmas son."
As he returned inside, the shop keeper's wife walked out.
"Who were you talking to back there and where are the roses you were
fixing?"
Staring out the window, and blinking the tears from his own
eyes, he replied, "A strange thing happened to me this morning. While I
was setting up things to open the shop, I thought I heard a voice telling me to
set aside a dozen of my best roses for a special gift. I wasn't sure at the
time whether I had lost my mind or what, but I set them aside anyway.
Then just a few minutes ago, a little boy came into the shop
and wanted to buy a flower for his mother with one small dime.
"When I looked at him, I saw myself, many years ago. I
too, was a poor boy with nothing to buy my mother a Christmas gift. A bearded
man, whom I never knew, stopped me on the street and told me that he wanted to
give me ten dollars. "When I saw that little boy tonight, I knew who that
voice was, and I put together a dozen of my very best roses." The shop
owner and his wife hugged each other tightly, and as they stepped out into the
bitter cold air, they somehow didn't feel cold at all.
May this story instill the spirit of CHRISTmas in you enough
to pass this act along.
Have a Joyous and Peace-filled season.
Goodness is the only investment that doesn't fail.
