JOSHUA TIME 237

May the Spirit of Christmas fill your heart and home with love and joy and merriment. The Gold Wrapping Paper A story goes that some time ago a mother punished her 5 year old daughter for wasting a roll of expensive gold wrappingpaper. Money was tight and she became even more upset whenthe child used the gold paper to decorate a box to put under theChristmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift box to hermother the next morning and said, "This is for you, Momma." The mother was embarrassed by her earlier over reaction,but her anger flared again when she opened the box andfound it was empty. She spoke to her daughter in a harsh manner "Don't youknow, young lady, when you give someone a present there'ssupposed to be something inside the package?" She had tears in her eyes and said, "Oh, Momma, it's notempty! I blew kisses into it until it was full." The mother was crushed. She fell on her knees and put herarms around her little girl, and she begged herforgiveness for her thoughtless anger. An accident took the life of the child only a short timelater, and it is told that the mother kept that gold box byher bed for all the years of her life. Whenever she wasdiscouraged or faced difficult problems she would open thebox and take out an imaginary kiss and remember the loveof the child who had put it there. In a very real sense, each of us, as human beings, havebeen given a Golden box filled with unconditional love andkisses from our children, family, friends and GOD. There isno more precious possession anyone could hold. Friends are like angels who lift us to our feet, when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL