To Forgive

A DOLL FOR RUTHIE

Twas the week before Christmas and the mood at the old parish house was glum. Mamma worried that there was hardly any flour left to scrape from the bottom of the barrel. Pappa was worried because his paycheck had not arrived and he had no money to buy food, let alone buy Christmas presents for the children. Amidst the gloom and doom there was one bright ray of light—little Ruthie who ran around telling anyone that would listen about the big doll that walked and talked, and had blond hair and blue eyes just like hers, "Jesus is going to give it to me for Christmas," she would say, doing a little dance and smiling a sweet little smile No amount of explaining seemed to convey the idea that there was just no money for a doll, any kind of a doll, let alone the doll she was asking for.
Mamma talked until her throat was dry, but Ruthie always had a ready answer, "But Mamma I prayed for a doll, and Mamma you said that Jesus hears us when we pray. Mother had given up trying to explain that sometimes Jesus does not give everything we ask for.
The two boys hinted that if it were possible they wanted skates for Christmas, "but Mamma, we do understand, really we do, and you need not worry yourself about us",they said. Knowing that they would enjoy skating on the snow with the other boys, Mamma swallowed the big lump in her throat and tried to smile.

For a long time Pappa tried to keep his worries to himself, saying only, "The Lord will provide." And then the night before Christmas, the dam broke loose, and Pappa, a minister of the gospel, sat in his shabby study feeling forsaken and rejected by the God that he served. The dam broke for mamma that night also and she cried as if her heart would break.
They scarcely heard the truck drive up and stop in front of the house. There was a knock at the door, but when they arrived to open the door there was no one there. Only two huge boxes addressed to them. Ruthie danced with glee because she was sure Jesus had sent her doll; Mother and father were not so sure. They opened the first box and found food, plenty of it,
flour, oil, butter and bread, little packages of chocolate, bags of potatoes. Food, almost enough for an army. And then they opened the second box and found warm pajamas, a nice coat that fit mother, socks, and a warm coat for dad, a coat for Ruthie, warm clothes for the boys, two pairs of snow skates and at the very bottom of the large box, a doll with blond hair and blue eyes that walked and talked. Ruthie hugged her doll and kept reminding her Mother, "Jesus heard my prayer."
Father and Mother hugged each other tightly, and vowed, "Never again to question God."