A CHRISTMAS LESSON

by Tom Krause
(Nixa, MO USA)

A cold winter’s night in a small little town,
on a busy street corner, people bustling around,
stood a mother with her son collecting coins for the poor
when the child asked a question he had never asked before.

“Is there a purpose? Why are we here?”
the little boy asked as the yuletide drew near.
I really do hope that someday I will know
the reason we stand out here in the snow
ringing this bell as people walk by
while thousands of snowflakes descend from the sky.

The young boy exclaimed, “Mother where does it go,
all the pennies we collect every year in the snow.
Why do we do it? Why do we care?
We work for these pennies so why should we care?”

The mother just smiled at her shivering son
who would rather be playing and having some fun
But soon would discover when the evening was done
the meaning of Christmas the very first one.

“Because once a small baby, so meek and so mild,
was born in a manger, so humble the child.”
“The Son of a King was born in this way
to give us a message he carried that day.”

“The present God gave the world on that night
was the gift of his Son to make everything right.”
“Why did he do it? Why did he care?,
to teach about loving and how we should share.”

“The meaning of Christmas, you see my dear son,
is not about presents or just having fun
but the gift of a father – his own precious Son
so the world would be saved when his work was all done.”

Now the little boy smiled – with a tear in his eye
as snowflakes kept falling from out of the sky
– rang louder the bell as people walked by
while down deep in his heart at last he knew why.

Tom Krause Copyright 2003