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{Straight From the Heart} *The Blessing* 12/12/00
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A Special Happy Birthday to my little sister Christina Miller! We love ya!
To read Christina's latest story check it out in our archives at:
Mama Naomi
http://www.storiesfrommyheart.com/102300/
A foot of snow dropped on Southern Wisconsin today, with a windchill of 40 degrees below zero, Kristi and Caleb have the flu, partially digested food is flying everywhere and I get to stay home from work tonight and play Mr. Mom! Life is good!
Michael
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The Blessing
By Teresa Higginbotham
"Penny for the cup? Spare change mister? A dollar for a cup of coffee?" The bum sat up against a frigid wall between towering buildings.
"You aren't going to give him anything, are you? You know he'll just spend it on booze." A wife with frosted hair tugged on her husband's arm as he reached into his cashmere pocket for a dollar.
"Now you don't know that."
"Look at him." Her gloved hand went up to her nose. "He's a drunk. He'll just go down and buy a cheap bottle of wine and drink it down and sleep the rest of the day."
"But it's Christmas. We might be the only hope he's got."
"The only thing he's hoping for is a bottle of cheap rotgut"
"That may be...but we're doing o.k. this year and I want to give something back."
"Give something back? Who gave us our money? This dirty man on the street? No. We worked hard for all we have. If you're going to reward anybody, it should be me for putting up with all those long hours at the office."
The husband scratched his head still looking at the filthy bundle of humanity below him. "This could be us, you know."
"Don't be silly. We'd never let ourselves fall prey to an addiction. We're too smart for that."
"He may not be an addict."
"Yeh, right and that's Ivana's natural hair color."
"He may just be on hard times."
"Let's go, I'm getting cold and the curtain goes up in ten minutes."
The husband looked at the bum who was now looking directly into his eyes. The bum's eyes were blue surrounded by telltale wrinkles of being in the sun too long. He could have been a farmer who had spent years out in the fields. He could have been a veteran who had looked up at the beating sun in Viet Nam. He could have been a father who had tried to protect his son from the violence of the street. He could have been anything...he could have been him.
The wife walked on and quickly, the husband reached into his pocket and took out a $10 dollar bill.
"Here old man, before my wife sees. Merry Christmas."
The man in the cashmere coat walked on catching up to the drifts of perfume left by his wife.
"Merry Christmas to you, sir." The bum's voice was barely heard. The bum stood up from the wall and walked to the hot dog vendor down the street. After ordering five dogs he walked around the corner to the alley. There huddled against the other side of the wall was a little family of two children and woman. They hadn't always been here, but like the man had said, they had fallen on hard times. Things would be better in the new year.
"Here dear...Merry Christmas." He handed her the hot dogs which she passed out to the children.
A little girl of five looked up over her hotdog. "Is there change, Daddy?"
"Just a little."
"Then we shall have a present for Jesus' birthday."
" And when I start my new job after Christmas, we will remember this blessing. Yes, we will give Him a present too."
Teresa Higginbotham
tightwadtess@aol.com
Send Teresa an email and let her know what you thought of her story!
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Teresa Higginbotham writes articles about frugal living and homeschooling. Visit her websites, Tightwad Tess at http://www.tightwadtess.com and The Frugal Homeschooler at http://pages.ivillage.com.
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From: isaiah@citlink.net (Karen)
Michael,
I wanted to say thanks for using my story, My Hero, My Friend in your e-zine.
Right after I wrote the story, I sent a copy of it to my friend, Pat, whom the story was about.
She was so moved that she called me and told me it was wonderful and that she had cried several times! I didn't realize that it would get such a strong reaction but am glad you made the challenge and that I followed my heart and wrote my own story Straight From My Heart!
I have had a lot of emails coming in from people who read my story and they have all been encouraging; maybe I need to work on some more! Who knows? Maybe there is a writer buried deep inside of me waiting to get out!
Blessings,
Karen Smith
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Thought For The Day:
"The secrets of success are a good wife and a steady job. My wife told me."
Verse for the Day:
"He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord."
Proverbs 18:22
Kid's Thought For The Day:
"If you're going to laugh, laugh out loud."
Parent's Thought For The Day:
"A three year old child is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty-six dollar set of swings as it does out of finding a small green worm." -Bill Vaughan
Coach's Thought For The Day:
"When someone tells me the is only one way to do things, it always lights a fire under my butt. My instant reaction is, I'm gonna prove you wrong.
-Picabo Street
Deep Thought For The Day:
"Probably the saddest thing you'll ever see is a mosquito sucking on a
mummy. Forget it little friend."
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_
/_/\/\ MICHAEL T. POWERS
\_\ / THUNDER27@aol.com
/_/ \ "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but
\_\/\ \ Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live for the Son
\_\/ of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20
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Video Imagery (Michael's Video Production Business.)
"I thought of you first after my family sat down to watch the video we gave them. They loved it, to say the least! Within thirty seconds my mom was crying and my dad did too. They said it was the best Christmas gift we could have given them!! You did such a beautiful job! They were so surprised and so touched---they really, really, really loved it. Thanks for helping to make it so special to us all. My mom mentioned how the songs were perfect for the video too! Thanks again!"
Kelli (RKaGe@aol.com) College Station, TX
Let me make you a video from your pictures or home movies!
Check out the web page for Michael's video production business!
Video Imagery
http://members.aol.com/Videoimg/index.html
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Do you feel as if life has no meaning for you?
The Four Spiritual Laws
http://www.ccci.org/laws/index.html
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Writer's Guidelines
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Thanks!
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