Once upon a time there were three little children. Their parents had divorced and the children were living with their mother and her parents. It was a depression and everyone was poor. There was never enough to eat or enough heat to be really warm and there was never, never any candy.
But the grandparents were kind and good and the youngest, three year old Patsy had a special and very loving relationship with her grandpa. She secretly suspected that she was his favorite although nothing was ever said about it.
One day Grandpa came home and called the three children into the living room. He was sitting in his big chair and he had a paper bag in his hand. When the children were all lined up in front of him he put his hand into the bag and pulled out a piece of candy. The children were so stunned that they stood paralyzed and mute. Grandpa handed the candy to Bobby. He was five and the oldest. Next he gave a piece to Teri. He then crumpled up the bag and handed it to Patsy saying, "Throw this in the coal bucket."
Patsy was a very obedient child and she ran and did as she was told and then she went out into the yard under the apple tree and cried her little heart out. Oh, how she wanted a piece of candy. She had dreamed and hoped for candy. But even worse was the thought that her grandpa, who she had always believed loved her especially could have been so mean, cruel and unfair.
In a little while grandpa came strolling through the yard. He saw the little one with her head bent in dejection, her face swollen and tear stained and he said, "Patsy did you look in that bag before you threw it in the coal bucket? No? Well go get it and look in it."
Patsy went to the bucket. The crumpled bag was still there, wrinkled, dirty and ugly with black dust. She picked it up and opened it. In the bag were two pieces of candy. Her grandpa DID love her with a special love AND she got candy too.
Sometimes disease, death, the loss of someone we deeply love or some other catastrophe of life hits us. When it does we think that God has abandoned us or maybe we had been deluding ourselves that he really loved us especially. We think our Lord has given us the bag. But in every case we should look for the present in that crumpled up old bag. It's ALWAYS there.
