Christmas was three days away and the state of Maine was under siege. A mini hurricane blindsided the state, blowing down thousands of trees, thrashing unsuspecting citizens with torrential downpours, damns near bursting, evacuations, mudslides, and power outrages that threw 400,000 Mainers into the dark.
Food shopping became an adventure. I entered Shaw’s Supermarket with cash in hand, ready to buy the Christmas ham. Rumors spread that the cash registers were off-line, slowing transactions, and creating long lines. I stood in line waiting my turn. I noticed that the young cashier was frazzled by the slow working of the register.
Three people were in front of me. The first lady in line did not have enough cash and started to put some of her purchases to one side. Suddenly, the second person in line leaped to her aid.
“Here, take this twenty-dollar bill and buy what you need,” she said.
“Are you sure?” inquired the first lady, acting a bit stunned.
The second lady smiled and nodded.
The exasperated cashier watched the encounter. She slammed her hands on the counter and proclaimed loudly, “I knew there was going to be a Christmas miracle today!”
We all were startled by the outburst.
I asked, “Did you tell people that you thought there would be a Christmas miracle today?”
“Yes, I did, “she said definitively.
We all smiled.
Amid a trying week for Mainers, this simple act of charity brightened up our day, giving us hope that human kindness was alive and well, even at your local grocery store.
this is such a beautiful testimony to acts of love. it reminds me of St Theresa’s creed, of doing small things with great love.
Absolutely!
I loved your story in Magnificat, “The Long Penance”
Your books sound good.
God bless.
Thank for your reply. The Long Penance is ALL true.
So happy that you enjoy the books!
So you live in Maine. Wow. Drove through Maine once when I was a kid, on vacation with my parents, ultimate destination Canada. Growing up in southeast Ohio, in the Appalachian foothills one quite used to the beautiful forests and ravines, cornfields, quaint small towns. Birds and hawks soaring int the air, deer standing at the edge of sunlit woodlot.
As an eight or nine year old, sitting in the back seat of my parents car, I can still recollect the day (or was it a year?) driving through Maine. Bleak sky. Long straight road. Stretching forever straight ahead. Straight ahead-forever-under a bleak sky. And on either side of that eternally stretching road, endless thick forests, no clearings, no breaks, no houses, no farms, no birds, no humanity at all. (Don’t even remember seeing another vehicle). Just the straight black road, stretching out forever. Hemmed in on both sides by dark, cloying, impenetrable forest. And in my young mind, dark forests full of unseen man eating Mooses (Moosci?Plural?) and ravenous wolves.
And now as an adult, recollecting, it seems that if one decided to end it all, Maine would be the place to do it. That is, if one, after ending it all, one did not care that his/her body would ever be found.
God Bless. Dennis P. McIntire, Zanesville Ohio
Sounds like you have some writing ability! Thanks for your thoughtful comments. God Bless!