The Gold Slippers
The 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."
Author Unknown
I would like to add: If you know the Author of any of the poems
or stories where I have put Author Unknown, please send me the name
and I will add it.
Thank You.
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