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Spice of Life | Gift of hope in our hearts on Christmas
Someone seemed to be flashing a light through the skylight as if looking for something or maybe someone. Intrigued, I decided to explore
Covid-19 was a stressful period for humanity worldwide. My son and I were no exceptions. While God saved us from the virus, the economic downturn hit us hard. Hence, despite being a single parent, with a minor child to raise, I had to give up a better-paying job and opt for short-term projects, that often left me high and dry.
That day, too, wasn’t any different. Christmas was around the corner. The company I had just joined faced a fiscal downturn and expressed its inability to pay for my services. So, I joined the global bandwagon of the unemployed again. That too, with Christmas at hand!
No matter what, my son, looked up to me to make it memorable. I did not have the heart to tell him not to expect gifts. After all, Christmas is the season for perpetual hope. The decoration that I had placed on the mantlepiece a couple of days ago, too, bore testimony to the same.
‘HOPE’ it read. It was a gift from my elder sister that meant so much to us. However, that night it was to prove much more. Since time immemorial, mankind has looked to God for help in times of trouble, for hope and assurance. It’s the same way with me. That night, too, I uttered a prayer for God’s mercy.
Barely through, I heard the familiar, ‘So, mummy, what is the plan for this Christmas?’ I still wonder at what cost I uttered my next words, but I assured him of a surprise. While my excited junior made euphoric bedtime guesses about what to expect at Christmas, sleep eluded my eyes that night. As I tossed and turned on my bed, I noticed an unusual occurrence in the living room.
Someone seemed to be flashing a light through the skylight as if looking for something or maybe someone. Intrigued, I decided to explore. Lo, and behold! It was my old buddy, the moon, bearing a message from God. Its probing ray fell on ‘HOPE’, the decoration my sister had gifted us.
Sure enough, it was a sign to keep looking heavenward and expect great things. Hope springs eternal in the human breast, wrote Alexander Pope in his ‘An Essay on Man’. Hope, though unseen, has the potential to save and sustain mankind. The Bible says in Romans 8:24 (KJV), “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” The Bible also says that hope is the confident expectation of what God has promised.
God was true to His word, as miracles started happening the next morning. We received gifts from my elder sister and my brothers, besides an invitation to celebrate Christmas with my uncle and his family, even as my friends were busy looking for suitable jobs for me.
Since then, ‘HOPE’ has found a permanent place not just on our mantlepiece, but also in our hearts. Besides that, my son and I try to be the hope that could help others in need around us at Christmas and throughout the year. What about you? shaheen.parshad@gmail.com
The writer is an Amritsar-based freelance contributor
