Jeremy Forrester was born with a twisted body, an incurable illness and a slow mind. At the age of 12 he was still in second grade, seemingly unable to learn. His teacher, Doris Miller, often became exasperated with him. He would squirm in his seat, drool and make grunting noises. At other times, he spoke clearly and distinctly, as if a spot of light had penetrated the darkness of his brain. Most of the time, however, he just caused his teacher great irritation.

One day, she called his parents and asked them to come in for a consultation. As the Forresters entered the empty classroom, Doris said to them, "I’m afraid that Jeremy really does belong in a special school. It isn't fair to him to be with younger children who don't have learning problems. Why, there is a five-year gap between his age and that of the other students and he, unfortunately, interferes with our class procedures."

Mrs. Forrester cried softly into a tissue, while her husband spoke. "Miss Miller," he said, "there is no school of that kind nearby. It would be a terrible for Jeremy if we had to take him out of this school. We know he really likes it here."

When no immediate decision was made, Doris sat for a long time after they had left, staring at the snow outside the window. Its coldness seemed to seep into her soul. She wanted to sympathize with the Forrester family. After all, their only child had a terminal illness. But it wasn't fair to keep him in her class. She had 18 other youngsters to teach, and Jeremy was a distraction.

Furthermore, he would never learn to read and write. Why waste any more time trying? As she pondered the situation, guilt washed over her. 'Here I am complaining when my problems are nothing compared to that poor family,' she thought. 'Lord, please help me to be more patient with sweet little Jeremy.'

From that day on, she tried hard to overlook Jeremy's noises and his blank stares. Then one day, he limped to her desk, dragging his bad little leg behind him. "I love you, Miss Miller," he exclaimed, loud enough for the whole class to hear. The other students snickered, and Doris' face turned red. She stammered, "Wh-why that's very nice, dear.

N-now please take your seat."

Spring came, and the children talked excitedly about the coming of Easter. Doris told them the story of Jesus, and then to emphasize the idea of new life springing forth, she gave each of the children a large empty plastic egg. "Now," she said to them, "I want you each to take this egg home and bring it back tomorrow with something inside that shows new life. Do you understand?" "Yes, Miss Miller," the children enthusiastically responded. All except for Jeremy. He listened intently; his eyes never left her face. He did not make his usual noises. Had he understood what she had said about Jesus' death and resurrection? Did he understand the assignment? She decided she should call and explain the project to his parents this evening. However, that evening, her kitchen sink stopped up. She called her landlord and waited an hour for him to come by and unclog it. Then she still had to shop for groceries, iron a blouse, and prepare a vocabulary test for the next day. Therefore, she completely forgot to phone Jeremy's parents.

The next morning, 19 children came to school, laughing and talking as they placed their eggs in the large wicker basket on Miss Miller's desk. After they completed their math lesson, it was time to open the eggs. In the first egg, Doris found a flower. "Oh yes, a flower is certainly a sign of new life," she said. "When plants peek through the ground, we know that spring is here."

A small girl in the first row waved her arm. "That's my egg, Miss Miller," she called out. The next egg contained a plastic butterfly, which looked very real. Doris held it up. "We all know that a caterpillar changes and grows into a beautiful butterfly. Yes, that's new life, too." Little Judy smiled proudly and said, "Miss Miller, that one is mine."

Next, she found a rock with moss on it. As she explained that moss, too, showed life. Billy spoke up from the back of the classroom, "My daddy helped me," he beamed.

When she opened the fourth egg, she found it was empty. Surely it must be Jeremy's, she thought, and of course, he must not have understood her instructions. If only she had not forgotten to phone his parents. Because she did not want to embarrass him, she quietly set the egg aside and reached for another. Suddenly, Jeremy spoke up. "Miss Miller, aren't you going to talk about my egg?" Flustered, she replied, "But Jeremy, your egg is empty." He looked into her eyes and said softly, "Yes, but Jesus’ tomb was empty, too."

It seemed as if time had stopped, as she was so surprised at his response, she was unable to speak for a moment. She finally asked him, "Jeremy dear, do you know why Jesus’ tomb was empty?" "Oh, yes, Jesus was killed and put in there; then His Father raised Him up again."

The recess bell rang. While the children excitedly ran out to the schoolyard to play and get ready for their Easter egg hunt, she cried. Then she prayed, "Thank you, Lord, for taking the cold inside me and melting it completely away."

Three months later sweet little Jeremy died. The many people who paid their respects at his funeral were surprised to see instead of flowers - 19 eggs on top of his casket, all of them - empty.