host posted on December 01, 2008 12:33
For nearly five years now, I’ve had the privilege of joining Doug in his company and on the air. Over these years, I’ve shared a number of stories about two of my heroes – my parents. Here’s one I haven’t told you yet, and it’s about my mom, the Great Depression, and Christmas.
My mom grew up during the Great Depression. Her father owned a successful hotel in Missouri and was the first one in his community to have an automobile. But when the stock market fell, the family lost everything.
They moved to Oklahoma to look for work when mom was just a little girl. Her parents and she, with five of her sisters, all lived in a two-room shack. Mom said that they had one light bulb, and that the whole family stayed in either one room or the other, depending on which room had the light.
Her dad worked at a gas station, and her mother cleaned people’s houses. As the girls grew, they babysat for families across town and earned a few extra nickels and dimes each week, which helped pay for their lunches.
When the recent financial news in our country hit, I visited with mom about what it was like during those days. Among other things, I asked her about those lunches she’d buy and what the family ate each day. She told me that they literally ate the same food every single day for years: Corn pancakes for breakfast, mashed potatoes and gravy for lunch, and some kind of bread or cornbread for dinner. For years.
(There’s an obvious point about nutrition I could make right here, but I’ll hold off.)
One Christmas, mom was invited to be in the school play. Thrilled by this, she rushed home to tell her mother. Her mother was so proud, but a little discouraged. She worried that she wouldn’t have any “fancy shoes” to wear to the school play, and was a little embarrassed by the shoes she did have, which were little more than shoe shells, along with cardboard and tape. “How much do shoes cost?,” mom asked. “Five dollars,” she replied. “Do you think if we got five dollars to buy some new shoes, you could come?” The answer was a resounding “Yes,” even though the prospects seemed slim.
A couple of weeks later, she and her mother took the bus “downtown” to Oklahoma City to see the Christmas lights. It was cold and a little snowy, and the only thing my mom could think about during the whole trip was how much she wanted her mother to come see her in the school play the following evening.
The bus stopped on an empty corner. The two got out. When they did, mom looked down, and beside a trash can she saw something blowing underneath some garbage. She reached down, and saw that it was a five-dollar bill! Mom told me, “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t remember the last time I had ever seen a five-dollar bill, and I was holding one in my hand!”
Her mother hugged her and said, “What do you want to do with it, Betty? That’s a lot of money.” “Can we buy you some new shoes, mama?,” mom asked. The answer was another resounding “Yes,” and they walked down the street to a local merchant and picked out a pair of new shoes.
Mom told me, “To this day, I can’t think of a more miraculous Christmas experience I’ve ever had than finding that five dollar bill, and having my mother attend the school play in her new shoes that year.”
This story, obviously, has nothing to do with fungus or health. And though I’ll probably write another article about the cornbread diet my mom’s family was forced to live on for so many years, I’m going to save that for a different time.
What I want to do is remind us all about how precious the little things are. I want to remind us of how sometimes, when we least expect it, little miracles appear before us in the most unlikely places. Maybe it’s an encouraging word. Maybe it’s a little tip that helps solve an otherwise major health problem. Maybe it’s stumbling on a little show, like Know the Cause.
Doug often says, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” I think that’s true. I also believe that when you’re really committed to seeing something through, you’ll find the resources to accomplish it.
No matter where you are in life or in health, I think this holiday season is a time to reflect on the important things, to be thankful for them, and pray that God will see us through whatever challenges we may be facing. And without question, I believe that He will provide the resources we need when we are truly committed to using them fully.
Happy Holidays, and may God bless you and your families this season!
Kyle