A Short Story
by
The Rev. Karen Lynn Woo
[Each Christmas, Karen Woo writes a short story for her local newspaper. As
you will see from the last paragraph, she uses it as a way to interest
people in the church that she serves, and to invite them to Christmas
services.]
Evelyn loved tea time. It was the one thing in her day she never skipped.
During the winter months she would sit by a roaring fire, a cup of tea in
one hand and a good book in the other. In the Spring she would take her tea
seated by the bay window in the dining room where she could watch her garden
grow. Summertime meant iced tea time on the enclosed lanai where she could
enjoy the view of the lake without being bothered by the mosquitoes and
other bugs that frequented the area during that time of the year. And in the
Fall, Evelyn would always have her tea on the front porch where she could
enjoy the changing colors of the leaves.
It was just such an afternoon when Evelyn noticed a teenage girl walking up
the road. Every so often the girl bent down, picked up a stone, and flung it
at a nearby tree. ‘Don’t you even think about throwing that rock my way
young lady!” Evelyn called out as the girl neared her house. Startled, the
girl dropped her rock and turned toward the voice that had called out to
her. She was about to run when Evelyn called out to her again, ‘You can run
but you can’t hide. Wouldn’t you rather come and have a cup of tea and a
cookie with me instead?”
The girl hesitated for a moment, turned to go and then changed her mind.
‘Wonderful,” Evelyn called out as the girl began to make her way to the
front porch. ‘I’ll just go get another cup and a plate of cookies and I’ll
meet you right back here.”
By the time Evelyn returned, the girl was seated at the small, wooden table
set to one side of the front porch. ‘Why are you being so nice to me?” the
girl asked.
‘Well,” said Evelyn as she poured the girl some tea, ‘years ago I needed
someone to talk to and a woman, a total stranger, invited me to do so over a
pot of tea and plate of cookies. I shared my pain and she shared her love.
It was such a gift to me I decided long ago I would give the same gift to
others. Now then, you have your tea and you can help yourself to the
cookies.”
‘Thank you very much,” the girl replied. She took two cookies from the
plate and placed them on her napkin. Her eyes filled with tears. ‘My mother
used to have plate of cookies and a cup of tea waiting for me when I came
home from school,” she said.
‘Used to?” Evelyn asked offering her the box of Kleenex which had been
sitting on the chair beside her.
‘Thank you.” The girl took a Kleenex from the box and wiped the tears from
her eyes. ‘She died a few years ago.”
‘I’m so sorry,” said Evelyn. ‘It’s very hard to lose someone you love isn’t
it?”
The girl nodded.
The two sat in silence for a long time, sipping tea and munching on cookies.
Finally, the girl pushed back her chair and prepared to leave. ‘Today is my
birthday,” she told Evelyn. ‘If my mother were alive, we would have shared
tea and cookies and then she would have given me my birthday present. This
cross,” Sally said fingering the cross that hung from her neck, ‘was the
last present I received from my mom before she died. I was feeling pretty
sad and angry when you yelled at me, but I feel much better now. Thank you
for inviting me to tea.”
‘Happy Birthday,” said Evelyn, ‘and you’re welcome. By the way, what is
your name?”
‘Sally Russell. My name is Sally Russell,” said Sally.
‘Sally Russell. By any chance are you related to Jack and Irene Russell?”
asked Evelyn.
‘Jack is my dad. Irene was my mom.”
‘I see. Well Sally, I take tea about this same time every day and you are
welcome to join me anytime you wish. In fact, if you come tomorrow you might
find a present waiting for you.”
‘Really!” exclaimed Sally. Thank you so much! I’ll see you tomorrow!”
The next day Evelyn sat down in her usual place with a pot of freshly brewed
tea, a plate of home-baked cookies, and two tea cups. She wasn’t sure Sally
would actually come but she wanted to be prepared just in case. She was just
finishing up her initial cup of tea when Sally arrived.
‘Your timing is perfect,” Evelyn told her. ‘I was just about to pour myself
a second cup of tea and it is just as easy to pour two cups as one. Please
sit down.”
At that moment Sally noticed a large white box encircled with red ribbon on
the chair in which she had sat the day before. A tag on the box read, ‘Happy
Birthday Sally.”
‘Go ahead,” said Evelyn as she poured the tea, ‘open it.”
Sally picked up the box, sat down in the chair, untied the bow and took the
lid off the box. Inside were the teapot, cups, saucers, and cookie plate
they had used the previous day.
‘Yesterday,” said Evelyn as she passed the plate of cookies to Sally, ‘I
told you about a woman who gave me the gift of love when I needed it most
and that it was such a gift to me I decided long ago I would give that same
gift to others. Sally, that woman was your mother. At the time, she was a
volunteer at the hospital where my daughter was diagnosed with lupus and
given less than six months to live. She was quite a woman your mother. She
not only looked after my daughter, she looked after me as well. Every
afternoon after getting off work she would come by my daughter’s room with
that plate piled high with cookies, and that teapot filled with fresh, hot
tea. It was such a simple thing, but it meant the world to me. You see, it
showed me your mother cared. It made me feel loved. When my daughter died,
your mother gave me the box you’re holding with everything inside it just as
it is now. Ev,’ she said, whenever you use this tea set remember that I am
thinking about you and praying for you.’ For years after my daughter died
your mother continued to come by my house once a week to have tea with me.”
Evelyn sat quietly for a moment and then reached over and picked up the box
which had been sitting on the chair next to the box of Kleenex. ‘As I said,
your mother brought tea and cookies to my daughter’s room every afternoon
for weeks on end. She would listen to my pain and then she would share with
me her faith in Jesus Christ, her favorite verses from the Bible, and what
it meant for her to know that death is not the end but a doorway to eternal
life with God. For Christmas that year she gave me an ornament with a
nativity scene in the front and a cross on the back. The cross could be seen
through the window of the manger in the front. The cross reminds us of why
Jesus came to earth,’ she told me.
Because of your mother’s visits, my family was baptized on Easter morning .
. . one week before my daughter died.” Evelyn handed Sally the box she had
been holding. Inside was the ornament with the nativity scene on the front
and the cross in the back.
‘That ornament reminds me that death is not the end but the doorway to
eternal life. God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.’
(John 3:16)
God’s love for humankind was demonstrated by Jesus through His actions while
He was on earth,’ your mother told me. And since that time His love has
continued to show itself again and again in the actions of those who believe
in Him.’ Sally, because of your mother, I am one of those believers. I want
you to have that ornament to remind you that because of Jesus’ death and
resurrection you WILL see your mother again. I also want you to have that
tea set and to remember whenever you use it that I am thinking about you and
praying for you, just as your mother thought about and prayed for me.”
Evelyn paused for a moment, picked up the tea pot and tea cups from the
table and set them on a nearby tray. ‘Over time,” she said, ‘tea becomes
cold and . . . ,” she stopped, picked up the empty cookie plate, and placed
it on the tray next to the tea pot, ‘. . . and cookies get eaten. But the
love of Jesus,” she said as she picked up the tray to take it inside,
‘that’s a gift that keeps on giving. That gift has been given to you. The
question is, to whom will you give it?”’
‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” said Jesus. ‘No one comes to
the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) This Christmas I invite you to
discover the way, to learn the truth, to find the life offered to you
through belief in Jesus Christ at First Presbyterian Church located at the
corner of 9th & E Street in the city of Cozad (Sunday worship: 11 a.m.;
Christmas Eve Service: 7:30 p.m.) or Buffalo Grove Presbyterian Church
located at the corner of Road 429 and Road 762 in Lexington (Sunday worship:
9:30 a.m.; Christmas Eve Service: 6:00 p.m.). All are welcome so please come
. . . and bring a friend! ~ Pastor Karen