Jeremy's Egg

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~* Jeremy's Egg *~

Jeremy was born with a twisted body, a slow mind
and a chronic, terminal illness that had been slowly
killing him for all his young life.

Still his parents had tried to give him as normal a
life as possible and had sent him to St. Theresa's
Elementary School.

At the age of 12, Jeremy was only in second grade,
seemingly unable to learn. His teacher, Doris Miller,
often became exasperated with him.

He would squirm in his seat, drool and make grunting
noises. At other times, he spoke clearly and distinctly,
as if a spot of light had penetrated the darkness of
his brain. Most of the time, however, Jeremy irritated
his teacher.

So one day, she decided to call his parents and ask them
to come to St. Theresa's for a consultation.

As the Forester's sat quietly in the empty classroom,
Doris said to them, "Jeremy really belongs in a special
school. It isn't fair to him to be with younger children
who don't have learning problems. Why, there is a five
year gap between his age and that of the other students!"

Mrs. Forrester cried softly into a tissue while her husband
spoke. "Miss Miller," he said, "there is no school of that
kind nearby. It would be a terrible shock for Jeremy if we
had to take him out of this school. We know he really likes
it here."

Doris sat for a long time after they left, staring at the
snow outside the window. Its coldness seemed to slowly seep
into her soul. She wanted to sympathize with the Forester's.
After all, He was their only child and He had a terminal
illness. But it wasn't fair to keep him in her class. She
had 18 other youngsters to teach and Jeremy was a distraction.
Furthermore, he would never learn to read or write. Why waste
any more time trying?

As she pondered the situation, guilt washed over her. "Oh God,"
she said aloud, "here I am complaining when my problems are
nothing compared with that poor family! Please help me to be
more patient with Jeremy."

From that day on, she tried to ignore Jeremy's noises and his
blank stares.

Then one day he limped to her desk, dragging his bad leg behind
him. "I love you, Miss Miller," he exclaimed loudly enough for
the whole class to hear.

The other children snickered, and Doris's face turned red. She
stammered, "Wh-Why, that's very nice, Jeremy. Now please
take your seat."

Spring came, and the children talked excitedly about the coming
of Easter.

Doris told them of the story of Jesus, and then to emphasize the
idea of new life springing forth, she gave each of the children
a large plastic egg.

"Now," she said to them, "I want you to take this home and bring
it back tomorrow with something inside that shows new life. Do
you understand?"

"Yes, Miss Miller!" the children responded enthusiastically.
All except for Jeremy. He just listened intently, his eyes
never left her face. He did not even make his usual noises.

Had he understood what she had said about Jesus' death and
resurrection? Did he understand the assignment? Perhaps she
should call his parents and explain the project to them.

That evening, Doris's kitchen sink stopped up. She called the
landlord and waited an hour for him to come by and unclog it.
After that, she still had to shop for groceries, iron a blouse
and prepare a vocabulary test for the next day. She completely
forgot about phoning Jeremy's parents.

The next morning, 19 children came to school, laughing and
talking as they placed their eggs in the large wicker basket
on Miss Miller's desk. After they completed their Math lesson,
it was time to open the eggs.

In the first

, Doris found a flower. "Oh yes, a flower is
certainly a sign of new life," she said. "When plants peek
through the ground we know that spring is here."

A small girl in the first row waved her arms. "That's my egg,
Miss Miller," she called out.

The next

contained a plastic butterfly, which looked very
real. Doris held it up, "We all know that a caterpillar changes
and grows into a beautiful butterfly. Yes that is new life, too."

Little Judy smiled proudly and said, "Miss Miller, that one is
mine."

Next, Doris found a rock with moss on it. She explained that
the moss, too, showed life. Billy spoke up from the back of the
classroom, "My Daddy helped me!" he beamed.

Then Doris opened the fourth

. She gasped. The egg was empty!

Surely it must be Jeremy's, she thought, and of course, he did
not understand her instructions. If only she had not forgotten to
phone his parents.

Because she did not want to embarrass him, she quietly set the
egg aside and reached for another.

Suddenly Jeremy spoke up." Miss Miller, aren't you going to talk
about my egg?"

Flustered, Doris replied, "But Jeremy - your egg is empty!"

He looked into her eyes and said softly, "Yes, but Jesus' tomb was
empty too!"

Time stopped.

When she could speak again, Doris asked him, "Do you
know why the tomb was empty?"

"Oh yes!" Jeremy exclaimed. "Jesus was killed and put in there.
Then His Father raised Him up!"

The recess bell rang.

While the children excitedly ran out to the school yard, Doris
cried. The cold inside her melted completely away.

Three months later Jeremy died.

Those who paid their respects at the mortuary were surprised to
see 19 eggs on top of his casket, all of them empty.

Can you imagine what a wonderful world we would have if we could
all just get to know the person from the inside out???

It would take some time....but it would be time well spent.....
We miss so very much, by pre-judging someone because of looks
or what we think someone knows or what we have heard from someone else.

We should always try to look past that outside shell to see the
person for who or what they really are.

Try it the next time!

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