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Topic: Blessed (11/29/04)
TITLE: Day of departure on Christmas Eve By sharmila sanka 12/02/04 |
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There was a 9 year old boy inside the house who was arranging a tiny Christmas tree. He hung some grapes and stockings to the Christmas tree. The grapes became the lights waiting to glow at the glow in his eyes. His eyes fell on a box lying in the corner, blew away the dust, opened it and took out a picture of his dad who LIVED for his country by GIVING UP his life as a soldier on last Christmas Eve. He hung the picture and a small piece of paper to the Christmas tree, breathed all his sorrows out, prayed and then looked at the floor.
The floor happened to be the bed for the little boy. He lay down and I wanted to take a look at the other houses too but for a last look at the boy I turned back and it was then I knew that the boy just pretended to sleep. I then held the wall of the dirty windows anxiously to see what he would do next. The boy woke up to see if the picture of his dad made some moves. He repeated this twice and went back to sleep with tears in his eyes and remembering the letter he wrote to his dad.
‘Dad, you lived for the country all your which made me take pride in you. Now that you no longer live on this earth, I realized I cannot be proud of my life here in your absence. I feel the whole world is empty without you. I wanted to become like you but now that I have lost you, I don’t want the same to happen to my child too. I know I seem to be selfish to you who are watching from the edge of the Heaven but this earth seems to be hell to me. It is now I realized your presence is heaven to me. I don’t need any Christmas gift which cannot gift you to me. I just want to feel your presence dad, let this picture of yours get folded for me to feel I hugged you tight- ‘Your son just waiting to depart from Earth to Heaven.’
With tears in his eyes he fell asleep awaiting Santa to perform a miracle. It was then a figure appeared and his hand touched his cheeks softly saying- “My son, innocent hearts like yours are tender buds waiting to blossom into flowers.” The little boy breathed in peace as the hand wiped his already half dried tears.
“Are you Santa?” questioned the little boy curiously.
He didn’t know it was the same hand which was holding on to the wall of the window staring at him from such a long time.
‘No dear’, continued the voice. ‘Santa sent me to have a look at all the smiley faces on the streets but I wanted to look at the son who lost his father. I am the Father of all the beings in the Universe. I am thy father too my son. This is the Eve of the departure of your dad from Heaven back to earth to live with you.’ Promised Jesus. It was then the boy looked into Jesus’ eyes whose eyes were filled with grace. The little boy’s eyes sparkled; his heart got tightened as he saw the Christmas tree and the grapes glowing and his dad coming out of the picture. Tears of joy ran down his cheeks and he said, ‘My Lord, I am blessed with your miracle. Advanced Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas.’