I walked out my classroom door and looked down the flight of stairs. Mr. R. was walking up the last step. His cane was in his right hand, a suitcase in his left, and under his arm was a wrapped package.
"What are you doing, Mr. R?" I asked.
It is not everyday that you see an 88 year old man walk up 56 steps to come up to our third floor classroom.
"I've come to see you," he said.
...And he handed me the wrapped package that he held.
I have a story to tell you. This is a true story that happened last Wednesday, December 23, 2010. It changed me. It changed my students. I hope it touches your heart too.
The beginning of this story began on the feast day of St. Therese. You can read about it here.
Since that beautiful feast day, Mr. R. has never been far from my thoughts. Everyday, I would see Mr. R. slowly walk past the school on the other side of the street and stop to look up to our third floor window. If I happened to be looking out, we would smile, wave, and greet each other from sidewalk to third floor.
I remember it being about a month ago, probably mid-November, when I prayed and asked God to please let me know what I could do for Mr. R. I had felt that Mr. R. was in our lives (mine and my students) for a reason, and I needed to be open to shine Christ to him and allow my students to experience Christ's love for others.
Days passed.
We still continued to see him walk past our window, but I had not put into action any of the thoughts or ideas that came to mind about shining Jesus to Mr. R. I became caught up in the hustle and bustle of preparing the children for Christmas. We completed our little clay pots of the Holy Family. We spent time making our Jesse Trees and the daily ornaments to place on the trees. We worked on our class presentation of St. Marguerite d'Youville for her upcoming feast day. (Which was December 23rd... :) So much preparing.
Yet... I had forgotten the one thing I had asked God to show me.
On Friday, December 18th, a thought came to me afterschool. I remembered Mr. R. telling me that he loved the tulips I had put in my classroom windows early one Spring so I went to my paper supply and started to make huge paper tulips for my windows. I wanted them to be BIG. Big enough for Mr. R. to easily see them from the sidewalk across the street. The children helped me and the photo below is what we accomplished:
On Monday when the children returned to school, I told them that I had a permission slip for them to take home. The permission slip was for the children to go caroling to Mr. R's house on the next block. I wanted the children to take 20 minutes out of their party day on Wednesday to go sing for Mr. R.
I have to tell you that the children were less then thrilled at the idea. They began to complain that they didn't want to take the time out of their celebrating to go singing outside.
I wasn't quite sure how to react to them, but I can tell you that I was determined that this is what we were going to do.
We left for Mr. R's house at 12:10 on Wednesday afternoon. It was a beautiful, sunny, winter day. There was fresh snow on the ground, but it wasn't too cold for our walk. We sang for several people that happened to be retrieving their mail while we passed by their houses, and the children were becoming more and more happier as we walked. We stopped at the corner and I pointed out Mr. R's house. The children were so excited. We walked up to the house and began to sing.
He answered the door with a smile on his face and listened to the children sing. We sang and sang. Just before the last song, I said, "Mr. R., these are the children from the fourth grade class. We want to wish you a Merry Christmas!"
We left his front sidewalk while singing, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas!"
We walked back to school and I began to make the children hot chocolate. As the last of the 23 students received their cup of hot cocoa, the school secretary came over the loud speaker. She spoke with a very urgent voice, "Mrs. Johnson, call the office." I had the children in the vacant classroom next door to my room and I couldn't get the phone to work properly, so I told the children I would be right back and headed out of the classroom door to call the office on a different phone.
I walked out my classroom door and looked down the flight of stairs. Mr. R. was walking up the last step. His cane was in his right hand, a suitcase in his left, and under his arm was a wrapped package.
"What are you doing, Mr. R?" I asked.
It is not everyday that you see an 88 year old man walk up 56 steps to come up to our third floor classroom.
"I've come to see you," he said.
...And he handed me the wrapped package that he held.
The package was a two pound box of chocolates.
He sat at a table in front of my students and asked me to open his suitcase. I put the suitcase on the top of the table and did as he asked me. The suitcase was filled with beautiful Rosaries. He asked me to give each of the students a Rosary and then he asked them one more thing...
He asked the children to sing for him.
I have never more proud of my beautiful classroom children. They sang for him.
One by one, several of the students came up to him during the song and hugged him.
I was given a beautiful gift this Christmas. I have never received such a gift. I thought I was giving Mr. R. a gift. I thought we were shining Christ to him.
Mr. R. shined Christ's light to me last Wednesday. He shined it to me and to my 23 young students. It will be a gift that all of us will remember always.
Oh yes, the message on the loud speaker... our school secretary had been at her desk when Mr. R. walked in and asked where the fourth grade class was located. Seeing him with his cane and labored walk, she offered him a seat and told him that she would call me down to the office. The urgency in her voice was because he stubbornly started walking up the flights of stairs to come and find us. :)
I love You, O my God,and my only desire is to love You until the last breath of my life.
Happy Holy Family Feast Day!Mary
Mom_of_Six
Jesus, I trust in You!
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