Today's Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul

[Guest guest]

Gold, Common Sense and Fur

By C. Stafford

My husband and I had been happily (most of the time) married for five years

but hadn't been blessed with a baby. I decided to do some serious praying

and promised God that if he would give us a child, I would be a perfect

mother, love it with all my heart and raise it with his word as my guide.

God answered my prayers and blessed us with a son. The next year God

blessed us with another son. The following year, he blessed us with yet

another son. The year after that we were blessed with a daughter.

My husband thought we'd been blessed right into poverty. We now had four

children, and the oldest was only four years old.

I learned never to ask God for anything unless I meant it. As a minister

once told me, " If you pray for rain, make sure you carry an umbrella. "

I began reading a few verses of the Bible to the children each day as they

lay in their cribs. I was off to a good start. God had entrusted me with

four children and I didn't want to disappoint him.

I tried to be patient the day the children smashed two dozen eggs on the

kitchen floor searching for baby chicks. I tried to be understanding when

they started a hotel for homeless frogs in the spare bedroom, although it

took me nearly two hours to catch all twenty-three frogs.

When my daughter poured ketchup all over herself and rolled up in a blanket

to see how it felt to be a hot dog, I tried to see the humor rather than the

mess.

In spite of changing over twenty-five thousand diapers, never eating a hot

meal and never sleeping for more than thirty minutes at a time, I still

thank God daily for my children.

While I couldn't keep my promise to be a perfect mother - I didn't even come

close - I did keep my promise to raise them in the Word of God.

I knew I was missing the mark just a little when I told my daughter we were

going to church to worship God, and she wanted to bring a bar of soap along

to " wash up " Jesus, too.

Something was lost in the translation when I explained that God gave us

everlasting life, and my son thought it was generous of God to give us his

" last wife. "

My proudest moment came during the children's Christmas pageant. My

daughter was playing , two of my sons were shepherds and my youngest son

was a wise man. This was their moment to shine.

My five-year-old shepherd had practiced his line, " We found the babe wrapped

in swaddling clothes. " But he was nervous and said, " The baby was wrapped

in wrinkled clothes. "

My four-year-old " " said, " That's not 'wrinkled clothes,' silly. That's

dirty, rotten clothes. "

A wrestling match broke out between and the shepherd and was stopped by

an angel, who bent her halo and lost her left wing.

I slouched a little lower in my seat when dropped the doll representing

Baby Jesus, and it bounced down the aisle crying, " Mama-mama. " grabbed

the doll, wrapped it back up and held it tightly as the wise men arrived.

My other son stepped forward wearing a bathrobe and a paper crown, knelt at

the manger and announced, " We are the three wise men, and we are bringing

gifts of gold, common sense and fur. "

The congregation dissolved into laughter, and the pageant got a standing

ovation.

" I've never enjoyed a Christmas program as much as this one, " Father

laughed, wiping tears from his eyes. " For the rest of my life, I'll never

hear the Christmas story without thinking of gold, common sense and fur. "

" My children are my pride and my joy and my greatest blessing, " I said as I

dug through my purse for an aspirin.