I hurried into the local department store to grab some last minute
Christmas gifts. I looked at all the people and grumbled to myself. I would be in
here forever and I just had so much to do.
Christmas was beginning to become such a drag. I kinda wished that I
could just sleep through the holiday. But I hurried the best I could
through all the people to the toy department. Once once again I mumbled to myself
at the prices of all these toys. I wondered if the grandkids would even play with them.
I found myself in the doll aisle. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a little boy, about five
years young, holding a lovely doll. He kept touching her hair and he held her so gently.
I could not seem to help myself. I just kept looking over at the little boy and wondered who the doll
was for. I watched him turn to his aunt, he called her by name, and said,
"Are you sure I don't have enough money?" She replied a bit impatiently,
"You know that you don't have enough money for it." The aunt told the little boy
not to go anywhere that she had to go get some other things and would be back in a few minutes. And then she left the
aisle. The boy continued to hold the doll. After a moment, I asked the boy who the doll was for. He said,
"It is the doll my sister wanted so badly for Christmas. She just knew that Santa would bring it." I told him that maybe Santa was going to bring
it. He said "No, Santa can't go where my sister is, I have to give the doll
to my Momma to it take to my sister". I asked him where his sister was. He looked at me with the saddest eyes and said, "She has gone to be with
Jesus. My Daddy says that Momma is going to have to go be with her." My heart nearly stopped beating. Then the boy looked at me again and said, I told my
Daddy to tell Momma not to go yet. I told him to tell her to wait until I got back from the store." Then he asked me if I wanted to see his picture. I
told him I would love to. He pulled out some pictures he had taken at the
front of the store.
He said, "I want my Momma to take this with her so she doesn't ever
forget me. I love my Momma so very much and I wish she did not have to
leave me. But Daddy says she will need to be with my sister." I saw that the little boy had lowered his head and had grown very quiet. While he was not
looking I reached into my purse and pulled out a handful of bills. I asked the little boy, "Shall we count that money one more time?"
He grew excited and said, "Yes, I just know it has to be enough". So I slipped my money in with his and we began to count it. Of course it
was plenty for the doll. He softly said, "Thank you Jesus for giving me
enough." Then the boy said, "I just asked Jesus to give me enough money to
buy this doll so Momma can take it with her to give to my sister, and He heard my prayer. I wanted to ask Him for enough to buy my Momma a
white rose, but I didn't ask Him, but he gave me enough to buy the doll and a rose for my Momma. She loves white roses so very, very
much".
In a few minutes the aunt came back and I wheeled my cart away. I could not keep from thinking about the little boy as I finished my shopping in a
totally different spirit than when I had started. I kept remembering a story I had seen in the newspaper several days earlier about a drunk
driver hitting a car, killing a little girl and the Mother was in serious condition. The family was deciding on whether to remove the life
support.
Now, surely, this little boy did not belong with that story.
Two days later I read in the paper where the family had disconnected
the life support for the mother of the little girl and just kept
wondering if the boy was somehow connected. Later that day, I could
not help myself and I went out and bought some white roses and
took them to the funeral home where the mother was. And there she was
holding a lovely white rose, the beautiful doll, and the picture of
the little boy in the store.
I left there in tears, my life changed forever. The love that little
boy had for his little sister and his mother was overwhelming. And in a split second a drunk driver had ripped the life of that little boy to pieces.
