Throughout this month I will try to share some of my favorite Christmas stories and poems that inspire me.  This story below is one I heard when I was growing up and I still remember the way it struck me as I heard it. It has a great message that inspires you to want to always try to be a person like that…

A brother like that (story by Dan Clark)

A friend of mine named Paul received an automobile from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a young, roguish-looking kid was walking around the shiny new car, admiring it. “Is this your car, Mister?” the boy asked.

Paul nodded. “My brother gave it to me for Christmas.” The boy was astounded. “You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn’t cost you nothing? Boy, I wish…”

Paul knew what the boy was going to wish – for a brother like that. But what the lad said jarred Paul all the way to his heels.

“I wish that I could be a brother like that.”

Paul looked at the boy in astonishment, then impulsively he responded, “Would you like to go for a ride in my new car?”

“Oh yes, I’d love that!”

After a short ride, the boy turned with his eyes aglow and said, “Mister, would you mind driving in front of my house?”

Paul smiled a little. Again, he thought he knew what the lad wanted…to show his neighbors that he was riding in a big, new automobile. But he was wrong again. “Will you stop at those two steps?” the boy asked.

The boy ran up the steps. In a little while, Paul heard him coming back, but moving quite slowly. The lad was carrying his younger, handicapped brother. The boy sat his brother down on the bottom step, then sort of squeezed up again him and pointed to the car.

“There she is, buddy, just like I told you! His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn’t cost him a cent. And someday I’m gonna give you one just like it…then you can see for yourself all the pretty things in the Christmas windows that I’ve been trying to tell you about.”

Paul got out of the car and lifted the younger child to the front seat. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside the small child and the three of them began a memorable holiday ride.

That Christmas Eve, Paul learned what Jesus meant when he said: “It is more blessed to give…”

I love that story!!! Have an amazing day everyone!

~Amy Rees Anderson