Come Before Winter – Chapter Twenty-Four – ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
December 24th, 2021
2 Timothy 4:21, “Do your utmost to come before winter.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR – ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
A myriad of memories flooded the stream of emotions Mercy awoke to in a special doorway on Christmas Eve morning. She’d been there for two nights already and was promised another two nights by the store owner, guaranteed. It’s not what you know sometimes; it’s WHO, she thought smugly. The store owner must have taken pity on a poor homeless kid at the holidays, and she’d take it this time, even though she never wanted to be someone’s charity case.
Mercy truthfully did not feel smug, but she was grateful. It was bitterly cold, yet she had made it through another night and had someplace to hang her head and bury herself and her box that was protected and safe. Well, as safe as things could be on city streets in the middle of downtown drama, homeless at Christmastime. Maybe things would finally be looking up. She’d get through this. The holiday would soon sweep past her like the big rig out cleaning the streets each morning before light fell into the sky and she’d charge up her phone and reach out and touch someone. Mercy intentioned to pull herself together after her unraveling, after she mourned another Christmas spent alone, after she could no longer ruin the Mason’s merry moods with her own dour one. And she’d ask for help to get home. Even just having a plan cheered her! Mercy smiled sadly. This adventure hadn’t been what she planned, and she’d found nothing like she’d hoped, but she’d honored a request and tried. She had come before winter, and no matter what, she had survived and grown up.
And today! Mercy marveled at her good fortune as she made her way to the Giver, realizing how long a day this potentially could have been. She looked forward to working for Gwen one final shift as the holiday hours would be finished, she assumed, when the holiday shopping wrapped itself up at the close of business. It would help to pass the time, put a little money in her pocket for some food, and tonight, she had to admit she was looking forward to this Candlelight Service Gwen had invited her to attend. Maybe the day would go by quickly! Tomorrow too, and soon the season would vanish and be nothing but a distant and disregarded memory.
And it did. Before she knew it, it was time to wrap it up, she and Gwen giggled as she put away the wrapping paper and bows, ribbons and giftbags. As they turned off the lights and prepared to leave, Gwen pressed an envelope in Mercy’s hand and said with a smile, ‘For later.’ Then she described how to get to the church only several blocks over and promised to meet her inside in one hour after she ran a brief errand.
The instant Mercy lay eyes on the church, she was overwhelmed with the sense she had been here before. Marble benches rested on either side of the largest wooden door Mercy had ever seen. The entrance was encased in the most pristine veil of white silk and pure little tealights danced in the night. Candlelight shown through the windows of the church and a ring of old-fashioned keys clung to the lock. Déjà vu pricked Mercy’s mind like a needle drawing blood as the memory of her dream poured out. ‘Oh!’ she exclaimed, more to herself than anyone.
She stepped through the door into a dim foyer, lit only by hundreds of tealights and candles. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness, but she could see anyway by some magnetic pull. There before her was Gwen, and next to Gwen, stood her mother. ‘You came! You came! I knew you would come! You promised!’ The childlike woman clapped tiny mittened hands, and her glee lit up the room like candlelight. She was beautiful and sweet, so much like a child in a woman’s body, and Mercy reached up awkwardly to hug her. She did not know what to say, and then, ‘Hi, Mom,’ fell out as tears soaked her face and Gwen’s too.
There wasn’t time for anything else, however, as they were ushered into the sanctuary of the most amazing place she’d ever seen. A church like this might make believers out of people; it was so majestic and magnificent. It was eerie how much it resembled the mansion from Mercy’s dreams, and she thought wordlessly, if she were to wander some hallways, she bet she’d stumble across a warm room lined floor to ceiling with books and a gigantic carved table telling the Gospel story in its etchings. She shivered, wondering if the man with the kindest eyes she ever imagined existed somewhere here too.
A hush fell over the vast gathering of people. A man in a velvet coat stood before the congregation and addressed them, welcoming all, thanking everyone for coming, blessing each with Christmas greetings. He cleared his gentle voice and it grew very quiet. ‘We are going to do something very different this year. I have asked my dear friend to come and tell you his story. I think you’ll agree when he finishes, it is truly a Christmas treasure and precisely why our Savior Jesus Christ left His Father and His kingdom to come to this earth for people like me and you, for my friend John. This is his story of redemption. Would you welcome Chaplain Day?’
Everywhere, people politely clapped; a few cheered, and Mercy’s mom jumped up and down, chanting, ‘Chaplain Day! Chaplain Day!’ surely, caught up in the excitement. Gwen’s face froze with an eternal ‘O!’ on her lips and Mercy clamored to her feet. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she watched a man walk to the podium. In his hands, he pushed a wheelchair, which he positioned next to him. ‘Daddy?’ she murmured. ‘Papaw? Oh my God!’ she cried, thoroughly and completely amazed.
Joel 2:25a, ‘”So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locusts has eaten.”’ (NKJV)
To Be Continued…
