Teach the Children

"Teach the children"

I just finished the household chores for the night and was preparing to go to bed, when I heard a noise in the front of he house. I opened the door to the front room and to my surprise, Santa himself stepped out from behind the Christmas tree.

He placed his finger over his mouth so I would not cry out. "What are you doing?" I started to ask. The words choked up in my throat, and I saw he had tears in his eyes. His usual jolly manner was gone. Gone was the eager, boisterous soul we all know.

He then answered me with a simple statement.
"TEACH THE CHILDREN!"

I was puzzled; what did he mean? He anticipated my question, and with one quick movement brought forth a miniature toy bag from behind the tree. As I stood bewildered, Santa said,
"Teach the children! Teach them the old meaning of Christmas. The meaning that now-a-days Christmas has forgotten."

Santa then reached in his bag and pulled out a FIR TREE and placed it before the mantle. "Teach the children that the pure green color of the stately fir tree remains green all year round, depicting the everlasting hope of mankind, all the needles point heavenward, making it a symbol of man's thoughts turning toward heaven."

He again reached into his bag and pulled out a brilliant STAR.
"Teach the children that the star was the heavenly sign of promises long ago. God promised a Savior for the world, and the star was the sign of fulfillment of His promise."

He then reached into his bag and pulled out a CANDLE.
"Teach the children that the candle symbolizes that Christ is the light
of the world, and when we see this great light we are reminded of He who displaces the darkness."

Once again he reached into his bag and removed a WREATH and placed it on the tree. "Teach the children that the wreath symbolizes the real nature of love. Real love never ceases. Love is one continuous round of affection."
He then pulled from his bag an ornament of himself.

"Teach the children that I, Santa Clause symbolize the generosity and good will we feel during the month of December."
He then brought out a HOLLY LEAF.

"Teach the children that the holly plant represents immortality. It
represents the crown of thorns worn by our Savior. The red holly
represents the blood shed by Him."

Next he pulled from his bag a GIFT and said,
"Teach the children that God so loved the world that HE gave HIS begotten SON..." "Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift.
"Teach the children that the wise men bowed before the Holy BABE and presented HIM with gold, frankincense and myrrh. We should always give gifts in the same spirit of the wise men."

Santa then reached in his bag and pulled out a CANDY CANE and hung it on the tree. "Teach the children that the candy cane represents the shepherds' crook. The crook on the staff helps to bring back strayed sheep to the flock. The candy cane is the symbol that we are our brother's keeper."

He reached in again and pulled out an ANGEL.
"Teach the children that it was the angels that heralded in the glorious news of the Savior's birth. The angels sang 'Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace and good will toward men."

Suddenly I heard a soft twinkling sound, and from his bag he pulled out a BELL. "Teach the children that as the lost sheep are found by the sound of the bell, it should ring mankind to the fold. The bell symbolizes guidance and return."

Santa looked back and was pleased. He looked back at me and I saw that the twinkle was back in his eyes.

He said,
"Remember, teach the children the true meaning of Christmas and do not put me in the center, for I am but an humble servant of the One that is, and I bow down to worship HIM, our LORD, our GOD."

-Anonymous

thank you Judy for sending me this poem.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I received an email that I thought was really worth passing on.

So I decided to copy it here.

"What would you write about your Friends"

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students
in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name.
Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of
their classmates and write it down.
It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as
the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.
That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate
sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that
individual.
On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire
class was smiling.
'Really?' she heard whispered. 'I never knew that I meant anything to
anyone!' and, 'I didn't know others liked me so much,' were most of the
comments.
No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they
discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The
exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with
themselves and one another. That group of students moved on.
Several years later, one of the students was killed inVietNam and his
teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never seen a
serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature.
The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took
a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin.
As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to
her. 'Were you Mark's math teacher?' he asked. She nodded: 'yes.' Then he
said: 'Mark talked about you a lot.'
After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went together to a
luncheon. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak
with his teacher.
'We want to show you something,' his father said, taking a wallet out of his
pocket 'They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might
recognize it.'
Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper
that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher
knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed
all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him.
'Thank you so much for doing that,' Mark's mother said. 'As you can see,
Mark treasured it.'
All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled
rather sheepishly and said, 'I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of
my desk at home.'
Chuck's wife said, 'Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album.'
'I have mine too,' Marilyn said. 'It's in my diary'
Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her
wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. 'I carry this
with me at all times,' Vicki said and without batting an eyelash, she
continued: 'I think we all saved our lists'
That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and
for all his friends who would never see him again.
The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will
end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be.

Let the people you love and care for - know how much, let them know that
they are special and important and that they have made a difference being in
your life.

I just did!

Have a Happy Day!

sent to me from:

Jo anna

Karen Vander Logt Artdolls