“Good Evening!”…Wait, it’s morning at home and I haven’t slept a wink!  City of Zegreb…hummm…I need to learn to pronounce that correctly…

Six of us sat around a small rectangular table with a crisp white tablecloth set for dining in a lovely hotel.  We were strangers, soon to become friends.  On this night we began together our journey of Croatia.  We had all been traveling long distances, now dog tired.  Yet our droopy eyes were propped open wide with wonder at all the newness around us.  The anticipation of an unknown adventure welled up inside us as we tried to eat our meal.  The pastry chef suddenly stood next to me at the head of the table announcing her prestigious dessert.  She seemed all puffed up like the Pillsbury Dough Boy in her white flour baker’s outfit, hat included. Rightfully so!  The dessert was delicious!

The conversation meandered around until I found myself talking about a trip to Italy I had made with my sister.  “Our Aunt Dot was in the Red Cross during the war.  As a young woman, she was stationed in various towns in Italy.  After she died we found her small Red Cross lapel pin and a silver compact….you know, they used to keep face powder in those.  Engraved on the compact were the names of those towns in Italy.  We decided to travel “in the footsteps of Aunt Dot”.

John sat across from me that evening at the other end of the table.  He leaned in towards me and said, “I had an experience with the Red Cross!”….Oh?…”I was a child in a slave labor camp in Germany.  When I was five years old we traveled on a boat to America.  Everyone on the boat was seasick except for me.”  As he spoke, I pictured this little boy peeking over the side of a wildly rocking boat in the ocean, searching a vast horizon all by himself.  He continued, “When we got to America, the Red Cross were the first to welcome us. They gave me a chocolate donut!”  My mind still wondering about the slave labor camp, I asked “What was your earliest memory of life?”   His reply was…..”the chocolate donut”.

It was a profound moment for me.  Who would have thought a chocolate donut might represent freedom!  At the time of the birth of Christ the weary world was searching the horizon for new life.  The people who walked in darkness then saw a great light!  Freedom came as a gift from God.  Who would have thought it would be a baby in a manger!

(from “The Indescribable Gift” by Richard Exley, illustrated by Phil Boatwright).

nk

Pondering…

What is your earliest memory of life?

In what way do you treasure freedom?