Mary’s Christmas Gift Chapter 4

Story posted by Chris Cade | Short Christmas Stories on Oct 9, 2008 in Inspirational Christmas Stories (If known, the original author is listed below)

In a very real sense, Mary Chapman felt that her entire life was on hold until the baby came. She didn’t expect anything to change after that, but she had put off decisions and plans until the first of the year. A new year, a new life, she told herself.

She sat down at her kitchen table, although she wasn’t hungry. After the cookies and cocoa at the parsonage, she was eating now out of habit. She toyed with a carton of yogurt, stirring the blueberries off the bottom and blending them through it with her spoon.

Glancing over at the calendar, she saw a reminder she had written on the 28th to mail in her rent check. She liked her two bedroom apartment, but everything in the suburbs was much more expensive than she had expected when she moved to Wheaton six years ago. Mary knew, too, that there were cheaper places to live, but she felt safe here and Jill wasn’t too far away, in Lombard.

She frowned when she thought of Jill’s confession about her debts. From the time she had left home to attend the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Mary had been very conservative with her money. Even today, she still paid in cash whenever possible. Something about watching those twenty-dollar bills disappear from her wallet provided a realness that was absent with credit or debit cards.

Mary couldn’t judge Jill, though. Jill was her best friend, and even though Jill was younger, she had taken Mary under her wing, helped her furnish her apartment, settled her in at work, and looked out for her in more ways than Mary could count. So it surprised Mary that Jill had been able to dig herself in so deeply without even hinting at it before.

Jill had more responsibility and seniority and made more money than she did at Midwest Milling. Although they had never exchanged salary information, Mary knew that Jill also got a bonus whenever she filled in for Elizabeth during vacations.

For years Mary had known that Jill was desperately unhappy over being single.

Jill’s forays into online dating had produced no marriageable prospects so far.

Mary had suggested that Jill switch to a Christian dating site, but Jill repeatedly ignored that advice. Jill had never attended church. Despite Mary’s open invitation, Jill would not go to church with her or see Pastor Don. Every time Mary had tried to witness to her, Jill had politely but quickly shut her out.

Mary was baffled how anyone could make it through life without a strong relationship with God. One disappointment after another could build a core of bitterness that turned everyday life into monotonous drudgery. Jill had not reached that point yet, but Mary saw signs that her friend was approaching it. Jill had turned cynical over the past year. Except for her online dating addiction, Jill saw little hope in anything else.

Dutifully, knowing that the calcium was good for the baby, Mary finished the yogurt then retreated to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth, washed, and pulled on a soft flannel nightgown. In the medicine cabinet mirror, she caught a glimpse of her distended belly before the nightgown slid down over it. She wondered what her mother and father would have thought.

Almost automatically, Mary set out her clothes for the next day. She methodically found a skirt and maternity blouse, underwear and shoes and put them on a chair. As a child she had learned that it saved much time and tension in the morning by getting everything ready the night before. A smile danced briefly across her face. She wondered what a new husband would think of her eccentric little routines.

Finally, she turned down the comforter and sheet, then sat on the edge of the bed. She found it too difficult to kneel to say her nighttime prayers, as she usually did.

As she reached for her Bible from the nightstand, it slipped out of her hand, opened, and fell on the carpet.

When she bent to pick it up, she saw a faded photograph of Jeff Bennett smiling up at her. She had stuck the photo between the pages of the Bible shortly after she got it and hadn’t come across it in years.

Mary picked up the snapshot and stared at it. She had taken it on a daylong fishing trip he had dragged her along on, insisting that she would enjoy herself.

All she caught was a severe sunburn, but he had filled a stringer full of large bass in a few hours. In the photo, he held the fish up proudly. He had short, light brown hair, greenish blue eyes, and a squarish chin. It was the crooked smile that she remembered best about him. How she had loved to see that smile.

The last time she had seen him, when she was getting ready to accompany the moving van from her parents’ house in Wahoo to her apartment in Wheaton, harsh words were spoken, mainly by him. Even at the time, she couldn’t blame him. In the years they had dated, it was the first time she’d seen him lose his temper. She recalled seeing him in her rearview mirror, his lips pursed, jaw set, staring at the ground and shaking his head. She cried half the way to her new home.

Still, she couldn’t throw the photo away. She returned it to the recesses of her Bible, between the pages of the Book of Leviticus, where she was unlikely to run across it ever again.

Mary turned ahead to the 91st Psalm, and read through it slowly, silently. It told of a God who promised shelter and protection, a God who could be trusted, a fatherly being who would not desert his children, no matter what.

Then, as was her habit every night before going to sleep, she prayed aloud. Pastor Don had taught her that the simple exercise of saying the words out loud would keep her mind from wandering, and he’d been right. In all the years she had known him, Pastor Don had always been right.

For a moment, she wondered if he had also been right about calling Jeff. Just as quickly, she dismissed the idea. Too much time had passed. She had coldly cut Jeff out of her life when she moved. Even as kind and sweet as Jeff was, she knew he couldn’t forgive her for that.

“Jesus,” she began slowly, softly, “A lot of things have been happening in the past couple days that I don’t understand. I know that you understand them, but I don’t. Jill isn’t a believer, but I want her to be. I want her to know you and love you the way I do. I want her to be saved, so we can both enjoy her presence in heaven.

She’s in a terrible situation with her money. Can you show her what to do, or show me, so I can help her? She’s a good person, she really is. Will you please help her get through this?

“You know I’m getting by, but just barely. I’m so tired all the time. Will you give me more strength and energy to do all the things I have to do? I’m so sorry that I failed you. I know you’ve forgiven me, but will you help me accept that? Will you help me find a loving, godly home for this baby? My bravery is just about gone. Will you give me a fresh supply for tomorrow? I can only make it one day at a time, and then only with your help.

“Thank you for sending Pastor Don and Hilda and the women at church into my life. I know that you’re working through them to help me. Please keep them all healthy and safe and bless them with happiness and peace.

“Jesus, I don’t feel much like celebrating your birthday this year. I know I’m supposed to be joyful and happy, but I’m having such a hard time. Thank you for the sacrifice you made for me. Thank you for this little baby within me who’s going to make some good couple so happy. Thank you for my job and all my material blessings. Please tell Mama and Dad that I love them and miss them so
much. Amen.”

She double-checked the setting on her clock radio, switched off the lamp, eased into bed, and tugged the covers up under her chin. Her mind skipped to Elizabeth McAllister and the budget projections. She had not been able to find any new data on natural gas, so she had turned in the report again, unaltered, but with more footnotes and sources.

Elizabeth had been in a meeting and was still absent from her office at quitting time, so Mary laid the report on the center of her desk with a Post-It on top explaining that she had an appointment that evening with her pastor and didn’t want to be late. She promised in the note to go over the figures with Elizabeth first thing in the morning.

Mary used all of her willpower to push worries about work out of her mind. A fleeting image of Jeff’s smiling face flitted through her thoughts before she drifted off to sleep.

[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7] [Chapter 8] [Chapter 9] [Chapter 10]

- Jack Zavada
©2006 by www.inspiration-for-singles.com

This a just a chapter of a free ebook entitled “Mary’s Christmas Gift” which can be downloaded from http://www.inspiration-for-singles.com/mary.html

Jack Zavada’s new ebook, Single and Sure, not only shows single people how to rescue themselves, but how to become a happier, more confident person in the process.