The Gift

A girl wakes up on a snowy, and calm Christmas morning. Her heart filled with excitement for what the day brings. The white clock on the walls ticks slowly and patiently.  Seconds come and go. The gifts are wrapped in beautiful bright colors. All except one…a medium sized gift lays in the middle of the widely assorted shapes, sizes and colors of presents. Wrapped in a shiny white silk fabric. The girl stands in awe of the beautiful wrapping that she doesn’t hear her parents come into the room.

The girl’s parents watch her. They exchange a look of understanding. They greet the girl with smiles and hugs. This is a great day and a day that she will always remember. The family begins the day opening and exchanging gifts. As if knowing the radiant white wrapped gift was somehow special the saved it for last.

When the girl sits in between her parents on the worn and cozy couch to open the last gift, she notices the slight smile of pride on her mothers’ face. She sees the slight frown of worry on her fathers. She is now both worried and excited. The looks remind her of the day they gave her great- grandmothers favorite gold chain necklace with the angel on it. She knows whatever is in this beautiful wrapping is very important.

Carefully she pulls the satin wrapping off the gift. A wooden box with golden clasp on the front lays in her lap. With its intricate swirls and designs in blue all over it looks like something out of the books she read as a child. “My mother gave me something like what is inside this box” her mother says. The girl opens the box and is stuck silent as she gazes at the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen. It brings a tear to her eyes to look at it. The purity and vibrant colors make her still. “It is tempting to share this my love” her father says, “but it isn’t something that you can freely share with anyone, you must be very careful with whom you allow to even be around it.” The girl hears the words and knows in her heart that they are true. This wasn’t something she could wear around her neck or in her hair. It was something to always cherish and NEVER take for granted. “My beautiful daughter this gift is as beautiful as you and it will grow more beautiful as your grow beautiful. But the beauty is not physical. It is a beauty inside you that must feed this gift”. The girl felt a feeling deep inside her heart and gut that told her she was forever changed. Something in her was different with the knowledge been given with this gift of beauty, innocence and love.

And she was.