ES - Gold Slippers- warm fuzzie

[Arabella de Montacute]

Guys I thought this was a wonderful example of how we should all behave 
in this season of giving.  Bree sent this to me and I noticed that none 
of ya'll were on her list, so I thought I'd share it with you, just as 
she has shared so many wonderful things with me and make me think about 
humanity and how good some people really are.  I have been so busy with 
the holidays that I havn't had the time until now, boy I wished I'd sent 
this sooner, oh well, we still have a few days to reflect on how we've 
behaved this year and how we'll behave in the next.

GOLD SLIPPERS

     It was only four days before Christmas.  The spirit of the season 
hadn't yet caught up with me, even though cars packed the parking lot of 
our local discount store.  Inside the store, it was worse. Shopping 
carts and last minute shoppers jammed the aisles.  Why  did  I come 
today? I wondered. My feet ached almost as much as my head. My list 
contained names of several people who claimed they wanted nothing but I 
knew their feelings would be hurt if I didn't buy them anything. Buying 
for someone who had everything and deploring the high cost of items, I 
considered gift-buying anything but fun.
     Hurriedly, I filled my shopping cart with last minute items and 
proceeded to the long checkout lines.   I picked the shortest but it 
looked as if it would mean at least a 20 minute wait.  In front of me 
were two small children - a boy of about 5 and a younger girl.  The boy 
wore a ragged coat.  Enormously large, tattered tennis shoes jutted far 
out in front of his much too short jeans.  He clutched several crumpled 
dollar bills in his grimy hands.  
     The girl's clothing resembled her brother's.  Her head  was a 
matted mass of curly hair.  Reminders of an evening meal showed on her 
small face. She carried a beautiful pair of shiny, gold house slippers.  
As the Christmas music sounded in the store's stereo system, the girl 
hummed along, off-key but happily.
     When we finally approached the checkout register, the girl 
carefully placed the shoes on the counter.  She treated them as though 
they were a treasure. The clerk rang up the bill.  "That will be $   
6.09," she said.  The boy laid his crumpled dollars atop the stand while 
he searched his pockets.  He finally came up with $3.12.   "I guess we 
will have to put them back," he bravely said.  "We will come back some 
other time, maybe tomorrow." 
     With that statement, a soft sob broke from the little girl.  "But 
Jesus would have loved these shoes," she cried. "Well, we'll go home and 
work some more.
     Don't cry.  We'll come back," he said.  Quickly I handed $3.00 to 
the cashier.  These children had waited in line for a long time.  And, 
after all, it was Christmas. 
     Suddenly a pair of arms came around me and a small voice said, 
"Thank you lady."  "What did you mean when you said Jesus would like the 
shoes?" I asked.  The boy answered, "Our mommy is sick and going to 
heaven.  Daddy said she might go before Christmas to be with Jesus."  
     The girl spoke, "My Sunday school teacher said the streets in 
heaven are shiny gold, just like these shoes.  Won't mommy be beautiful 
walking on those streets to match these shoes?"  My eyes flooded as I 
looked into her tear streaked face.  "Yes" I answered, " I am sure she 
will."  Silently I thanked God for using these children to remind me of 
the true spirit of giving."

******Yes I cried, too, half a kleenex box! - Arabella


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