For years, my brother has given out hundreds of Narcissus Bulbs as a special Christmas gift. They come in brown paper bags (fancy Christmas bags if he can find them on sale). Complete with a small cup holding small pebbles and the bulb, and a note with this story of the bulb that he wrote. Just water and put in a window.
\nPretty nice Christmas present that reminds you of somebody who cares for a long time after Christmas. That’s my brother.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the Magi left and prepared for their journey back to Herod, a servant boy with stunted arms slipped in to see the babe. He presented a small narcissus bulb to the young mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy masters say your son will be a king,\u201d he began. \u201cI have no gifts fit for a king, but perhaps this will bring some beauty into your lives. Place it in a jar indoors, water it, and give it light. After it has bloomed this winter, and its foliage has died, trim it back and dry it again for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy mom used to teach me with bulb, ma’am. I can still remember her lessons: That I shouldn’t judge by appearances. That my only real needs are sunshine, water, food, and someone to care for me. That everything else is a ‘want’, not a need. That I depend on God, and that I should live that way. That I should remember my roots. That life itself is a miracle. That life is short. That there is a time to be active and grow as well as a time to rest. That death is not the end. Moreover, that someday somebody else may need my help and I shouldn’t hesitate to give it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPerhaps you could use this bulb to teach your son, the way my mom taught me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMay I be as wise a mother for my son as your mother was for you,\u201d Mary said as she placed her small child in the boy’s stunted arms. \u201cWhat is your name, so that I may tell him when he’s older?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSimon\u201d, the boy replied. \u201cI come from Cyrene.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Copyright 1997 by Michael Vrtis)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For years, my brother has given out hundreds of Narcissus Bulbs as a special Christmas gift. They come in brown paper bags (fancy Christmas bags if he can find them on sale). Complete with a small cup holding small pebbles and the bulb, and a note with this story of the bulb that he wrote. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-mailman-mike","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrtisworks.com\/mythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrtisworks.com\/mythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrtisworks.com\/mythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrtisworks.com\/mythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrtisworks.com\/mythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrtisworks.com\/mythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":163,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrtisworks.com\/mythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions\/163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrtisworks.com\/mythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrtisworks.com\/mythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrtisworks.com\/mythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}