It was one of the hottest days of the dry
season. We had not seen rain in almost a month.
The crops were dying. Cows had stopped giving
milk. The creeks and streams were long gone back
into the earth.
It was a dry season which would bankrupt several
farmers before it was through. Every day, my
husband and his brothers would go through the
arduous process of trying to get water to the
fields. Lately this process had involved taking
a truck to the local water rendering plant and
filling it up with water. But severe rationing
had cut everyone off. If we didn't see some rain
soon...we
would lose everything.
It was on this day that I learned the true
lesson of sharing and witnessed the only miracle
I have seen with my own eyes. I was in the
kitchen making lunch for my husband and his
brothers when I saw my six-year old son, Billy,
walking toward the woods. He wasn't walking with
the usual carefree abandon of a youth but with a
serious purpose. I could only see his back. He
was obviously walking with a great
effort...trying to be as still as possible.
Minutes after he disappeared into the woods,
he came running out again, toward the house.
I went back to making sandwiches; thinking that
whatever task he had been doing was completed.
Moments later, however, he was once again
walking in that slow purposeful stride toward
the woods. This activity went on for an hour:
walk carefully to the woods, run back to the
house.
Finally I couldn't take it any longer and I
crept out of the house and followed him on his
journey (being very careful not to be seen...as
he was obviously doing important work and didn't
need his Mommy checking up on him).
He was cupping both hands in front of him as he
walked; being very careful not to spill the
water he held in them...maybe two or three
tablespoons were held in his
tiny hands.
I sneaked close as he went into the woods.
Branches and thorns slapped his little face by
he did not try to avoid them, He had a much
higher purpose. As I leaned in to spy on him, I
saw the most amazing sight. Several large deer
loomed in front of him. Billy walked right up to
them. I almost screamed for him to get away. A
huge buck with elaborate antlers was dangerously
close. But the buck did not threaten him...he
didn't even move as Billy knelt down. And I saw
a tiny fawn lying on the ground, obviously
suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion,
lift its head with great effort to lap up the
water cupped in my beautiful boy's hand.
When the water was gone, Billy jumped up to run
back to the house and I hid behind a tree. I
followed him back to the house to a spigot that
we had shut off the water to. Billy opened it
all the way up and a small trickle began to creep out. He knelt there, letting the drip,
drip slowly fill up his makeshift "cup," as the
sun beat down on his little back.
And it came clear to me. The trouble he had
gotten into for playing with the hose the week
before. The lecture he had received about the
importance of not wasting water. The reason he
didn't ask me to help him. It took almost twenty
minutes for the drops to fill his hands. When he
stood up and began the trek back, I was there in
front of him. His little eyes just filled with
tears. "I'm not wasting," was all he said.
As he began his walk, I joined him...with a
small pot of water from the kitchen. I let him
tend to the fawn. I stayed away. It was his job.
I stood on the edge of the woods watching the
most beautiful heart I have every known working
so hard to save another life. As the tears that
rolled down my face began to hit the ground,
they were suddenly joined by other drops...more
drops...and more. I looked up at the sky. It was as if God,
himself, was weeping with pride.
Some will probable say that this was just a huge
coincidence. That miracles don't really exist.
That it was bound to rain sometime. And I can't
argue with that...I'm not going to try. All I can say is
that the rain that came that day saved our
farm...just like that actions of one little boy
saved another.
This is not one of those crazy chain
letters...if you don't forward it to anyone,
nothing bad will happen to you. If you choose to
forward it, you won't receive any riches in the
mail. I don't know if anyone will read
this...but I had to send it out. To honor the memory of my
beautiful Billy, who was taken from me much too
soon... But not before showing me the true face
of God, in a little sunburned body.
Author Unknown To Me
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