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VOW |
The
Gift that Keeps on Giving
Evelyn loved tea
time. It was the one thing in her day she never skipped. During the
winter months she would sit by a roaring fire, a cup of tea in one hand
and a good book in the other. In the Spring she would take her tea
seated by the bay window in the dining room where she could watch her
garden grow. Summertime meant iced tea time on the enclosed lanai where
she could enjoy the view of the lake without being bothered by the
mosquitoes and other bugs that frequented the area during that time of
the year. And in the Fall, Evelyn would always have her tea on the
front porch where she could enjoy the changing colors of the leaves. It was just such an
afternoon when Evelyn noticed a teenage girl walking up the road. Every
so often the girl bent down, picked up a stone, and flung it at a
nearby tree. “Don't you even think about throwing that rock my way
young lady!” Evelyn called out as the girl neared her house. Startled,
the girl dropped her rock and turned toward the voice that had called
out to her. She was about to run when Evelyn called out to her again,
“You can run but you can't hide. Wouldn't you rather come and have a
cup of tea and a cookie with me instead?” The girl hesitated
for a moment, turned to go and then changed her mind. “Wonderful,”
Evelyn called out as the girl began to make her way to the front porch.
“I'll just go get another cup and a plate of cookies and I'll meet you
right back here.” By the time Evelyn
returned, the girl was seated at the small, wooden table set to one
side of the front porch. “Why are you being so nice to me?” the girl
asked. “Well,” said Evelyn
as she poured the girl some tea, “years ago I needed someone to talk to
and a woman, a total stranger, invited me to do so over a pot of tea
and plate of cookies. I shared my pain and she shared her love. It was
such a gift to me I decided long ago I would give the same gift to
others. Now then, you have your tea and you can help yourself to the
cookies.” “Thank you very
much,” the girl replied. She took two cookies from the plate and placed
them on her napkin. Her eyes filled with tears. “My mother used to have
plate of cookies and a cup of tea waiting for me when I came home from
school,” she said. “Used to?” Evelyn
asked offering her the box of Kleenex which had been sitting on the
chair beside her. “Thank you.” The girl
took a Kleenex from the box and wiped the tears from her eyes. “She
died a few years ago.” “I’m so sorry,” said
Evelyn. “It’s very hard to lose someone you love isn’t it?” The girl nodded. The two sat in
silence for a long time, sipping tea and munching on cookies. Finally,
the girl pushed back her chair and prepared to leave. “Today is my
birthday,” she told Evelyn. “If my mother were alive, we would have
shared tea and cookies and then she would have given me my birthday
present. This cross,” Sally said fingering the cross that hung from her
neck, “was the last present I received from my mom before she died. I
was feeling pretty sad and angry when you yelled at me, but I feel much
better now. Thank you for inviting me to tea.” “Sally Russell. My
name is Sally Russell,” said Sally. “Sally Russell. By
any chance are you related to Jack and Irene Russell?” asked Evelyn. “Jack is my dad.
Irene was my mom.” “I see. Well Sally, I
take tea about this same time every day and you are welcome to join me
anytime you wish. In fact, if you come tomorrow you might find a
present waiting for you.” “Really!” exclaimed
Sally. Thank you so much! I’ll see you
tomorrow!” The next day Evelyn
sat down in her usual place with a pot of freshly brewed tea, a plate
of home-baked cookies, and two tea cups. She wasn't sure Sally would
actually come but she wanted to be prepared just in case. She was just
finishing up her initial cup of tea when Sally arrived. “Your timing is
perfect,” Evelyn told her. “I was just about to pour myself a second
cup of tea and it is just as easy to pour two cups as one. Please sit
down.” At that moment Sally
noticed a large white box encircled with red ribbon on the chair in
which she had sat the day before. A tag on the box read, “Happy
Birthday Sally.” “Go ahead,” said
Evelyn as she poured the tea, “open it.” Sally picked up the
box, sat down in the chair, untied the bow and took the lid off the
box. Inside were the teapot, cups, saucers, and cookie plate they had
used the previous day. “Yesterday,” said
Evelyn as she passed the plate of cookies to Sally, “I told you about a
woman who gave me the gift of love when I needed it most and that it
was such a gift to me I decided long ago I would give that same gift to
others. Sally, that woman was your mother. At the time, she was a
volunteer at the hospital where my daughter was diagnosed with lupus
and given less than six months to live. She was quite a woman your
mother. She not only looked after my daughter, she looked after me as
well. Every afternoon after getting off work she would come by my
daughter's room with that plate piled high with cookies, and that
teapot filled with fresh, hot tea. It was such a simple thing, but it
meant the world to me. You see, it showed me your mother cared. It made
me feel loved. When my daughter died, your mother gave me the box
you're holding with everything inside it just as it is now. ‘Ev,’ she
said, ‘whenever you use this tea set remember that I am thinking about
you and praying for you.’ For years after my daughter died your mother
continued to come by my house once a week to have tea with me.” Evelyn sat quietly
for a moment and then reached over and picked up the box which had been
sitting on the chair next to the box of Kleenex. “As I said, your
mother brought tea and cookies to my daughter’s room every afternoon
for weeks on end. She would listen to my pain and then she would share
with me her faith in Jesus Christ, her favorite verses from the Bible,
and what it meant for her to know that death is not the end but a
doorway to eternal life with God. For Christmas that year she gave me
an ornament with a nativity scene in the front and a cross on the back.
The cross could be seen through the window of the manger in the front.
‘The cross reminds us of why Jesus came to earth,’ she told me. Because of your
mother’s visits, my family was baptized on Easter morning . . . one
week before my daughter died.” Evelyn handed Sally the box she had been
holding. Inside was the ornament with the nativity scene on the front
and the cross in the back. “That ornament
reminds me that death is not the end but the doorway to eternal life.
‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.’
(John 3:16) ‘God’s love for
humankind was demonstrated by Jesus through His actions while He was on
earth,’ your mother told me. ‘And since that time His love has
continued to show itself again and again in the actions of those who
believe in Him.’ Sally, because of your mother, I am one of those
believers. I want you to have that ornament to remind you that because
of Jesus’ death and resurrection you WILL see your mother again. I also
want you to have that tea set and to remember whenever you use it that
I am thinking about you and praying for you, just as your mother
thought about and prayed for me.” Evelyn paused for a moment, picked up the tea pot and tea cups from the table and set them on a nearby tray. “Over time,” she said, “tea becomes cold and . . . ,” she stopped, picked up the empty cookie plate, and placed it on the tray next to the tea pot, “. . . and cookies get eaten. But the love of Jesus,” she said as she picked up the tray to take it inside, “that’s a gift that keeps on giving. That gift has been given to you. The question is, ‘to whom will you give it?’” “I am the
way, and the truth, and the life,” said Jesus. “No one comes to the
Father except through me.” (John 14:6) This
Christmas I invite you to discover the way, to learn the truth, to find
the life offered to you through belief in Jesus Christ at First
Presbyterian Church located at the corner of 9th & E
Street in the city of Cozad (Sunday worship: 11 a.m.; Christmas Eve
Service: 7:30 p.m.) or Buffalo Grove Presbyterian Church located at the
corner of Road 429 and Road 762 in Lexington (Sunday worship: 9:30
a.m.; Christmas Eve Service: 6:00 p.m.). All are welcome so please come
. . . and bring a friend! ~ Pastor Karen
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