A Beautiful Promise

I offer my obeisance to you Rev. Sri. Sri. Om Swamiji🙏🕉wishing you much love, peace and good health🦢

Christmas is a time of joy, love and sharing. I have always been fascinated with Christmas trees since childhood. I still remember when we would greet lot of our friends singing Christmas carols door to door and they were joyfully treated well by all. It used to last for almost a week covering with it the New Year’s charm too. 

Last year too I went and bought  beautiful ornaments for the sacred tree of Jesus Christ. And trust me once the tree is decorated it truly spreads its charming and magical effect in the whole environment of the house. Imagine most of  the houses lighting up that day and the entire environment of the town painted in bliss . 

My kids got busy baking different shapes and flavours of cookies for family members and friends . So along  with each ones respective gift a cookie box was added.

The most awaited is everyone eagerly looking forward to a great snowfall and that truly makes the eve more special and blessed. Above all I had promised to myself that I would pack gift for some strangers too apart from couple of friends that I knew. 

For me it felt God had heard this little child’s ( my voice) wish and it just did not snow that day, but according to the forecast  it was the heaviest snowfall the city experienced after many years.  Felt like HE smiled from above and  granted more than I even dreamt  of.  “ You made a Promise!” It seemed He truly did want me to take the walk:)) 

I had hit on a sweet little plan for that day even though I knew it would be quite challenging, as honestly was not expecting this wave of snowfall. For even to step out during that time there were good chances one could slip and fall.  Even though the pavements on the main road were made a bit clear , the internal areas were not yet cleaned up. 

I arranged five gift packs containing coffee mugs, greeting cards and chocolates and cookies with little flowers and ribbons decorated on the boxes.

Layering myself well I was all set to leave.  Around 12 noon I stepped out cheerfully to my chosen destinations. I just thought of surprising couple of my friends I had made whilst on my daily walks.

An Uncle aged almost 82 years whom I met 2-3 times and even wrote about him here. The ice was almost three to five feet and in some areas it was even higher.

As I walked carefully taking baby steps on the pavement with those gifts in my hands, I could feel tremendous joy in my heart with the cold breeze touching my face, and just halfway to my  destination , I could  barely feel my cheeks and nose.

The best bit was because I had the gifts in my hands, I had no chance even to rub my face, as that would require placing the gifts somewhere which was next to impossible as even the park benches were soaked deeply in snow. Merry Christmas ! 😊 everything on the way  seemed to be giving out that friendly beam .

I guess the joy was enough to keep me going ahead with my walk. It was fun and I could clearly see some people watching me from their porch area and smiling.

Finally I reached the sweet uncle’s place, it was the rear side  his garden, all fenced and I had promised him that I would quietly keep the gift in the garden area , which required sneaking the gift through the fence. I quickly and securely placed the gift there and left .

Next was a friend whom I met during my walks. Kate  a beautiful person, a retired psychologist and teacher who spent her lifetime coaching and dealing with Behavioral and Physical Problems of Students. We always had long chats over coffee whenever we sat down together after our walks.

Reaching her place, I placed the three gifts at her doorstep. The reason was that I  hardly knew any body out there. And because of covid, social distancing had to be maintained at all times. So I struck on the idea of handing over the gifts to be given to strangers to Kate.

Whilst on my way back home I enjoyed taking shots of the ice formations on trees and bushes.  It was elating and I could not have spent my time more beautiful than this. Felt like I treated myself well that day.

Once back home I called Kate up and informed her about the gifts I had securely kept outside her door. I asked her to hand over two of the other gifts to her neighbors , as they would be strangers to me. She  was very touched by this gesture of mine and blessed me enough.

And guess what… late in the evening I got a message  from Kate, “ please open your door there is something outside”.

I went out and picked up a gift pack. It was from Kate.. “  Merry Christmas my dear friend , the smile has spread far and wide”😊

Isn’t life all about these sweet little heartful emotions!

Grace be on all🙏🕉

Peace and love

Siddhika Umesh

Life Deserving! – os.me