Friday Flash 55

Darla’s mother said she could place one piece of straw in the manger for each good deed that day.

Helping her brother get dressed to play in the snow…one…clearing the table after dinner…two…picking up her room…three…finally, nine pieces of straw to make Jesus’ bed. 

Knocking her brother over in the snow? She removed all the straw.

Being honest…one.

God Has Been Faithful

Even though it’s truly been the most difficult year of my life, this is one thing I can say for sure: God has been faithul. Often it didn’t feel like He was there, but now I see He was with me every step of the way.

Anyway, since it’s Christmas Eve, I thought I would share a song I heard on my iPod this morning. The lyrics mean a great deal to me…

 

 

 Our God is With Us
   by Steven Curtis Chapman

One of us is cryin’ as our hopes and dreams are led away in chains and we’re left all alone;
One of us is dyin’ as our love is slowly lowered in the grave and we’re left all alone.
But for all of us who journey through the dark abyss of loneliness there comes a great announcement – we are never alone – for the maker of each heart that breaks, the giver of each breath we take has come to earth and given hope it’s birth.

Our God is with us, Emmanuel, He’s come to save us, Emmanuel.
And we will never face life alone now that God has made Himself known, as Father and Friend, with us through the end, Emmanuel.

He spoke with prophets’ voices and showed Himself in a cloud of fire, but no one had seen His face;
Until the One Most Holy revealed to us His perfect heart’s desire and left His rightful place;
And in one glorious moment, all eternity was shaken, as God broke through the darkness that had kept us apart.
And with love that conquers loneliness, and hope that fills all emptiness, He came to earth to show our worth.

So rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel has come!

Have a blessed Christmas!

The Most Fun I Ever Had Bowling

With sleet blowing sideways, my husband and I changed our plans for the day, which were originally to do some Christmas-y things in Chicago. So E. suggested we go bowling, which I wasn’t too excited about, since I’m really bad. I know, everyone says that. But since I regularly get scores in the 60 range, I think I’ve officially earned the right to say I stink. Which is why I usually put bowling near the top of things I most dislike to do, just after getting my teeth cleaned.

That was until we found a luxe-jazz-lounge-meets-bowling-alley, called Pinstripes. Each lane has leather seating and a server to bring whatever you want from their full bar and Italian bistro. Classy jazz tunes are pumped into the lanes and the food was outstanding (by no means “bowling alley” fare). This place was beyond cool.

The best part is, I improved my score by 20 points!

Elisha and the Christmas Child: Part 6 (of 6)

At the hospital, Elisha discovered she had broken her foot in several places and bruised her ribs. Those were her large injuries, but her body ached and throbbed everywhere. The doctor said she would stay overnight.

She asked about David several times to the nurses, who rushed in and out of her room in a frenzy. Groggy from the medications, she wasn’t sure if any of them had actually answered her. She thought perhaps he was somewhere in the hospital, warm and comfortable like her.

By the time they took her to a room, the drugs were beginning to wear off and she was irritated to still be in the dark about what was happening with David.

A young woman in scrubs entered the room and started writing on the board at the foot of her bed. “I’m Sara, I’ll be your nurse tonight,” she said loudly, as if Elisha had become deaf in the accident. The nurse didn’t look up from her chart, but started to leave the room.

“Wait!” Elisha tried to yell but her voice came out as a croak. The nurse turned around.

“Where’s my husband? I want to know where he is.”

“What’s his name?”

“David. He was –,” the nurse cut her off and said she’d try to find out and left the room. Elisha wandered in and out of sleep.

Some time later, the nurse returned. “Elisha, I found out about your husband. Are you awake?”

Elisha struggled to wake up. Everything in the room seemed fuzzy.

“Your husband was in surgery tonight. They took him to ICU. I’ll ask his doctor to come see you tomorrow.” The nurse patted her on the arm. “You can push this button right here if you need more medication.” She lifted a key pad and put it directly into Elisha’s hand. She nodded and drifted into a deep sleep.

After Elisha had been poked, tested and questioned most of the following morning, the nurse told her she would be able to go home.

Finally, a tall, rail of a man leisurely entered Elisha’s room. “I’m Dr. Addison,” he announced. Elisha looked puzzled. “I’m your husband’s doctor.”

Elisha listened as he rattled on, saying lots of things she didn’t entirely understand. David had surgery, that much she knew, and he had some internal bleeding. The doctor said he was improving, but his condition was serious.

“What does that mean?” she asked, trembling.

“We think he’ll improve, but it’s going to take some time,” he answered gravely. “He definitely won’t be home for Christmas.”

*

Elisha’s mother came to stay, driving her to and from the hospital to see David. On Christmas Eve, Elisha asked her mother if she’d take her to get a Christmas tree. She wanted to have it decorated for David when he came home.

She and her mother found one of the final trees at a corner lot. For many years, Elisha had not wanted to decorate a tree because she had always dreamed of hanging her children’s ornaments there.

So instead of ornaments for a child, she searched for ones that symbolized the life she and David shared: a wedding ball, one that looked like a little version of their home,  a tiny cup of coffee. She also found one in the form of a small child. Even if their story didn’t have the typical happy ending, Elisha thought, it was part of them.

While she and her mother played Christmas music and adorned the tree, Elisha remembered how much fun it had been to do this very thing when she was a young, along with her dad and sisters.

On New Year’s Eve, David had recovered enough to come home. 

It seemed to take him a few minutes to recognize the glow of the tiny lights on a tree in their living room, which normally stood empty at the holidays.

“You put up a tree,” he said weakly. Elisha thought he looked very tired.

“I wanted to put it up for you, for when you came home.” She jumped off the couch and hobbled over to the tree, where a single gift sat underneath the branches.

“I was hoping you’d open my Christmas present,” she carried a small package back to the couch where he lay, and sat on the edge next to him.

He took the square gift and opened it, his fingers still numb from the medication. When unwrapped, he looked at the vaguely familiar brown box.

Cracking it open slowly, he found inside a gold watch that twinkled in the lights of the Christmas tree. He looked at Elisha, who was beaming with a joy he hadn’t seen in so many years. He had missed her smile.

“It’s your father’s watch,” his voice broke.

“My dad said I should give it to our child.” Beautiful, full tears filled her eyes. “But you’re the most important thing to me in the world and I want you to have it. Merry Christmas.”

“But I didn’t get you anything. I –,” he looked embarrassed.

She shook her head. “I have my gift.”

Elisha leaned into his chest and looked at the watch glimmering in his hand. She couldn’t be any more thankful for her life than she was, right in that very moment.

Elisha and the Christmas Child: Part 5 (of 6)

Elisha never lost consciousness. She was fully aware when the car, sliding sideways, then backward, flipped off the road and came to a halt, crashing into a church nativity scene.

For one brief moment, she felt a sense of calm, realizing the car had finally come to a stop. But her calm turned to panic when she rememberd that she and David had just left her aunt’s Christmas party.

A great light, which had illuminated the nativity scene, shone directly into the right side of the car so brightly that it nearly blinded her. Elisha tried to move, but was stuck. When she attempted to push herself free, a hot pain burned up her right leg, shooting up into her knee. She suddenly became aware of pain all over her body. Her ribs, her arm, her forehead. She touched her head and was relieved when she saw no blood on her fingers.

In David’s seat, all she could see was the air bag. “David?”

Painfully wrenching her head, she saw him slumped under the bag, his head flopped against the door window. She cried out when she saw blood smeared like paint on the crushed glass.

“David! Wake up!” He didn’t move.

She fumbled for her phone, which she usually left on the console. It wasn’t there. She searched frantically with her eyes and saw it lying on the dashboard. She reached and grabbed it, dialing 911, her hands shaking so that she could hardly dial. Her entire body began to shiver uncontrollably.

She tried to her best to remember where they were. She had seen the church many times before and tried to describe it, as well as the intersection where they had been. The operator asked her stay on the phone while the ambulance looked for them.

Everything was silent. The operator didn’t talk and Elisha’s mind began to race. She looked at David, and putting the phone on speaker, she set it on the console and felt for his hand. It was deep under the airbag, limp, but warm. She held it fiercely.

A large wooden object had been thrust through the window and hung there, suspended by the glass. Looking down at her lap, she saw something there that she couldn’t figure out. She slipped her hand out of David’s and flipped the object over. It was Jesus, the wooden baby from the nativity, there on her lap. He gazed at her with a tremendous calm, contradicting everything inside her.

She picked him up and held his baby face in front of hers. His eyes were the bluest blue and his arms were wide open, as if asking her to be his. Tears, locked inside from fear, came pouring out in floods. She wasn’t even completely sure why she was crying. It was all of it, everything. And she was terrified that she might lose the one thing in her life that mattered at all.

She dropped the baby and screamed loudly, a mad, shattering scream. “David! You have to wake up!” She pushed her good foot against the floor and tried again to get herself free, but this time adrenaline rushing through her. She heard the operator on the phone yelling her name and asking what was happening. Sirens pierced the air in the distance, arousing her hysteria.

“It’s here, it’s here,” she fumbled for the phone and spoke loudly into the speaker.

“I hear them, Elisha,” the operator confirmed. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

Elisha silently prayed that would be true.