Life's Challenges - Stories - Easter
| The Easter Egg | ||||
The Easter Egg
Jeremy was born with a twisted body, a slow mind, and a chronic, terminal
illness that had been slowly killing him all his young life. Still, his parents
had tried to give him as normal a life as possible and had sent him to St.
Teresa's elementary School.
At the age of 12, Jeremy was only in second grade, seemingly unable to learn.
His teacher, Doris Miller, often became exasperated with him. He would squirm in
his seat, drool and make grunting noises. At other times, he spoke clearly and
distinctly, as if a spot of light had penetrated the darkness of his brain. Most
of the time, however, Jeremy irritated his teacher.
One day, she called his parents and asked them to come to St. Teresa's for a
consultation. As the Forresters sat quietly in the empty classroom, Doris said
to them, "Jeremy really belongs in a special school. It isn't fair to him to be
with younger children who don't have learning problems. Why, there is a
five-year gap between his age and that of the other students?" Mrs. Forrester
cried softly into a tissue while her husband spoke. "Miss Miller", he said,
"there is no school of that kind nearby. It would be a terrible shock for Jeremy
if we had to take him out of this school. We know he really likes it here."
Doris sat for a long time after they left, staring at the snow outside the
window. Its coldness seemed to seep into her soul. She wanted to sympathize with
the Forresters. After all, their only child had a terminal illness. But it
wasn't fair to keep him in her class. She had 18 other youngsters to teach, and
Jeremy was a distraction. Furthermore, he would never learn to read and write.
Why waste any more time trying. As she pondered the situation, guilt washed over
her. "oh God," she said aloud, "here I am complaining when my problems are
nothing compared with that poor family! Please help me to be more patient with
Jeremy."
From that day on, she tried had to ignore Jeremy's noises and his blank stares.
Then one day he limped to her desk, dragging his bad leg behind him. "I love
you, Miss Miller," he exclaimed, loud enough for the whole class to hear. The
other students snickered, and Doris' face turned red. She stammered, "Wh-why
that's very nice, Jeremy. Now please take your seat."
Spring came, and the children TALKED excitedly about the coming of Easter. Doris
told them the story of Jesus, and then to emphasize the idea of new life
springing forth, she gave each of the children a large plastic egg. "Now," she
said to them, "I want you to take this home and bring it back tomorrow with
something inside that shows new life. Do you understand?"
"Yes Miss Miller!" the children responded enthusiastically -- all except for
Jeremy. He just listened intently, his eyes never left her face. He did not even
make his usual noises. Had he understood what she had said about Jesus' death
and his resurrection? Did he understand the assignment? Perhaps she should call
his parents and explain the project to them.
That evening, Doris' kitchen sink stopped up. She called the landlord and waited
an hour for him to come by and unclog it. After that, she still had to shop for
groceries, iron a blouse, and prepare a vocabulary test for the next day. She
completely forgot about phoning Jeremy's parents.
The next morning, 19 children came to school, laughing and talking as they
placed their eggs in the large wicker basket on Miss Miller's desk. After they
completed their math lesson, it was time to open the eggs.
In the first egg, Doris found a flower. "Oh yes, a flower is certainly a sign of
new life," she said. "When plants peek through the ground we know that spring is
here." A small girl in the first row waved her arms. "That's my egg, Miss
Miller, " she called out.
The next egg contained a plastic butterfly, which looked very real. Doris held
it up. "We all know that a caterpillar changes and grows into a beautiful
butterfly. Yes, that is new life, too" Little Judy smiled proudly and said,
"Miss Miller, that one is mine!"
Next Doris found a rock with moss on it. She explained that moss, too, showed
life. Billy spoke up from the back of the classroom. "My daddy helped me!" he
beamed.
Then Doris opened the fourth egg. She gasped. The egg was empty! Surely it must
be Jeremy's she thought, and, of course, he did not understand her instructions.
If only she had not forgotten to phone his parents. Because she did not want to
embarrass him, she quietly set the egg aside and reached for another. Suddenly
Jeremy spoke up. "Miss Miller, aren't you going to talk about my egg?"
Flustered, Doris replied, "But Jeremy -- your egg is empty!" He looked into her
eyes and said softly, "Yes, but Jesus' tomb was empty too!"
Time stopped. When she could speak again, Doris asked him. "Do you know why the
tomb was empty?" "Oh, yes!" Jeremy exclaimed. "Jesus was killed and put in
there. Then his Father raised him up!" The recess bell rang.
While the children excitedly ran out to the schoolyard, Doris cried. The cold
inside her melted completely away.
Three months later, Jeremy died. Those who paid their respects at the mortuary
were surprised to see 19 eggs on top of his casket, all of them empty.