Saturday, December 10, 2011

Christmas Child

She tipped her head down a littler further.
As she walked, she pushed against the storm.
The bundle in her arms she pressed against her.
Hoping that somehow she'd keep it warm.

She pulled her tattered coat around her infant.
And thanked her God in Heaven the child slept.
She had no milk.  She had no means to feed her.
Her shoulders shook as in the night she wept.

The house stood supported by two mighty pillars.
She leaned against one as she sat to rest.
She pulled away her coat and oh so gently
removed the sleeping infant from her breast.

She made sure the babe was wrapped up tight and shielded
from the icy wind of the cold December storm.
She slipped her coat from off her trembling shoulders
and laid her child upon it to keep her warm.

On the coat she pinned the letter she had written.
"Please love my baby as if she were your own.
I have watched you both and have often seen your kindness.
Please provide my child with a home.

It's Christmas Eve and I've not a gift to give her.
With all my heart I love my child true.
Please in your kindness grant a wish this Christmas.
Let me give my child the gift of "you".

You've no children of your own I hear it rumored
and to have a child you'd give all that you own.
So please bless my child with the love you have within you.
Please bless my child with a happy home.

Once in a different land; once in a manger,
it was at that time a Child was given too.
The heart of God the Father I'm sure was breaking
more than my own as I give my child to you.

He with greater love than I could ever fathom
gave to all a Child of His own.
The hurt He felt my aching heart cannot imagine;
To give His Child knowing what was known.

So please accept my gift of love this Christmas evening.
With the thought of Him, I know I'll be strong too.
To my child I say "I love you so my darling."
and now I pass my child's life to you.

The years they came.  The years they passed and on each Christmas
she walked by the house sitting mighty on the hill.
Within the walls she would hear her daughter's laughter.
"It was right."  The voice inside her whispered still.

Then one Christmas Eve as she sat beside her fire,
she heard a tap so faintly on her door.
She lifted up the latch to have the snowflakes
dance with the wind across her kitchen floor.

A young girl stood upon her step, her shawl pulled tightly.
"Hello Mother." She said as tears filled in her eyes.
In her arms she held a tattered coat so gently
With the same note upon it pinned from days gone by.

"Each Christmas Eve I've watched you from my window.
as you walked by my home that sits upon the hill.
A voice within my heart would always tell me
that of all my gifts you were my greatest still.

All these years I've wondered how it happened.
To love a stranger walking in the snow.
Tonight my parents gave to me the answer
in a box of blue adorned with a silver bow.

I found this weathered coat folded up inside it
and lying upon it I found a yellowed note.
Deep in my breast the love swelled up inside me.
as I read the Christmas letter that you wrote.

I've lived my life in a mansion on a hillside.
I've had all the things that a child's mind could dream.
I've always prayed and thanked my God in heaven.
It was impossible to have more or so it seemed.

Until tonight as I watched outside my window
as once again you came as I knew you would.
I turned.  My parents smiled to me and nodded.
They handed me the box and understood

that tonight was the time that I should follow.
My destination tho at times I didn't know.
Sometimes when I had felt that I had lost you,
I'd find again your footprints in the snow.

How can I be so blessed I found me asking
to the cold and darkness of the evening sky.
To be so loved when I've done not a thing to earn it.
To be so blessed and know not even why.

I recalled again the words within your letter.
How great was the gift from the Father from above;
that to all the world He gave His own Begotten.
The only reason for His Gift was out of love.

I cannot give back to God nor to the Christ Child
nor in this life can I give back to you.
To repay would take more time than life will offer.
I found myself asking what to do.

And then in the night within my heart I heard it;
the answer sweet and simple as a song.
Love is not a thing that you can owe and pay back.
All you do with love is simply pass it on.

How blessed I was to have you as my mother.
You knew well the lesson and now pass it on to me.
Without knowing of this truth passed down from heaven.
Life would lose what life was meant to be.

They stood..embraced this daughter and her mother.
Their tears and laughter mingled hand in hand.
May all be blessed with the gift of love this Christmas
And by passing it on bring Peace on Earth to man.

Copyright 1995
Susie Whiting

1 comment:

  1. Your stories always touch my heart. Life is about people and that will never change. Love you. :)

    ReplyDelete