The Two Figures of Jesus

The Two Figures of Jesus

About a week before Christmas, Mom bought a new nativity scene. When She
unpacked it, she found two figures of the Baby Jesus. "Someone must Have
packed this wrong," mother said, counting out the figures. "We have One
Joseph, one Mary, three wise men, three shepherds, two lambs, a donkey,
a cow, an angel, and two babies. Oh, dear! I suppose some set down at
the store is missing a Baby Jesus because we have two." "You two run
back down to the store and tell the manager that we have an extra Jesus.
Tell him to put a sign on the remaining boxes saying that if a set is
missing a Baby Jesus, call 7126. Put on your warm coats, it's freezing
cold out there."

The manager of the store copied down mother's message, and the next time
We were in the store, we saw the cardboard sign that read, "If you're
missing Baby Jesus, call 7126." All week long we waited for someone to
call.

Surely, we thought, someone was missing that important figurine. Each
time the phone rang, mother would say, "I'll bet that's about Jesus."
But it never was.

Father tried to explain there are thousands of these scattered over The
country, and the figurine could be missing from a set in Florida or
Texas or California. Those packing mistakes happen all the time. He
suggested That she just put the extra Jesus back in the box and forget
about it.

"Put Baby Jesus back in the box?! What a terrible thing to do," said
mother. "Surely someone will call. We'll just keep the two of them
together in the manger until someone does." When no call had come by
5:00 on Christmas Eve, mother insisted that father "just run down to the
store" to see if there were any sets left. "You can see them right
through the window, over on the counter," she said. "If they are all
gone, I'll know someone is bound to call tonight." "Run down to the
store?" father thundered. "It's 15 below zero out there!" "Oh, daddy,
we'll go with you!" We began to put on our coats.

Father gave a long sigh and headed for the front closet. "I can't
believe I'm doing this," he muttered. We ran ahead as father reluctantly
walked out in The cold. Tommy got to the store first and pressed his
nose up to the store window. "They're all gone, Daddy," he shouted.
"Every set must be sold. Hooray! The mystery will be solved tonight!"
Father heard the news still a half block away and immediately turned on
his heel and headed back home. When we got back into the house, we
noticed that mother was gone and so was the extra Baby Jesus figurine.
"Someone must have called, and she went out to deliver the figurine,"
father reasoned, pulling off his boots.

"You kids get ready for bed while I wrap mother's present." Then the
phone rang. Father yelled "answer the phone and tell 'em we found a home
for Jesus." But it was mother calling with instructions for us to come
to 205 Chestnut Street immediately, and bring three blankets, a box of
cookies and Some milk.. "Now what has she gotten us into?" father
groaned as we Bundled up again. "205 Chestnut. Why that's across town.
Wrap that milk up good In the blankets, or it will turn to ice before we
get there. Why can't we all just get on with Christmas? It's probably 20
below out there now. And the wind is picking up. Of all the crazy things
to do on a night like this."

When we got to the house at 205 Chestnut Street, it was the darkest one
on the block. Only one tiny light burned in the living room, and the
moment we set foot on the porch steps, mother opened the door and
shouted, "They're here! Oh thank God you got here, Ray! You kids take
those blankets into the living room and wrap up the little ones on the
couch. I'll take the milk and cookies."

"Would you mind telling me what is going on, Ethel?" father asked. "We
have just walked through below zero weather with the wind in our faces
all the way."

"Never mind all that now," mother interrupted. "There is no heat in this
house, and this young mother is so upset, she doesn't know what to do.
Her husband walked out on her, and those poor little children will have
a very bleak Christmas, so don't you complain. I told her you could fix
that oil furnace in a jiffy. My mother strode off to the kitchen to warm
the milk while my brother and I wrapped up the five little children who
were huddled together on the couch. The children's mother explained to
my father that her husband had run off, taking bedding, clothing, and
almost every piece of furniture, but she had been doing all right until
the furnace broke down.

"I been doin' washin' an ironin' for people and cleanin' the five and
dime," she said. "I saw your number every day there, on those boxes on
the counter. When the furnace went out, that number kept goin' through
my mind. 7162, 7162 "Said on the box that if a person was missin' Jesus,
they should call you. That's how I knew you were good Christian people,
willin' to help folks. I figured that maybe you would help me, too. So I
stopped at the grocery store tonight, and I called your missus. I'm not
missin' Jesus, mister, because I sure love the Lord. But I am missin'
heat. I have no money to fix that furnace."

"Okay, okay," said father. "You've come to the right place. Now let's
see. You've got a little oil burner over there in the dining room.
Shouldn't be too hard to fix. Probably just a clogged flue. I'll look it
over, see what it needs." Mother came into the living room carrying a
plate of cookies and warm milk. As she set the cups down on the coffee
table, noticed the figure of Baby Jesus lying in the center of the
table. It was the only sign of Christmas in the house. The children
stared wide-eyed with wonder at the plate of cookies my mother set
before them. Father finally got the oil burner working but said, "You
need more oil. I'll make a few calls tonight and get some oil. Yes sir,
you came to the right place."

Father grinned. On the way home, father did not complain about the cold
weather and had barely set foot inside the door when he was on the
phone. "Ed, hey, how are ya, Ed? Yes, Merry Christmas to you, too. Say
Ed, we have kind of an unusual situation here. I know you've got that
pick-up truck. Do you still have some oil in that barrel on your truck?
You do?" By this time the rest of the family was pulling clothes out of
their closets and toys off of their shelves. It was long after our
bedtime when we were wrapping gifts. The pickup came. On it were chairs,
three lamps, blankets and gifts. Even though it was 30 below, father let
us ride along in the back of the truck.

No one ever did call about the missing figure in the nativity set, but
as I have grown older I realize that it wasn't a packing mistake after all.

Friends are quiet angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.....love and prayers, sis katie.