The week of Christmas is upon us and my heart can\u2019t help but think about the true essence of Christmas \u2013 to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice he willingly made out of his infinite love for each one of us. It reminds me of a story I try to read each Christmas season. The story goes like this:<\/p>\n
“Years ago there was a little one-room schoolhouse in the mountains of Virginia where the boys were so rough that no teacher had been able to handle them.<\/p>\n
\u201cA young, inexperienced teacher applied, and the old director scanned him and asked: \u2018Young fellow, do you know that you are asking for an awful beating? Every teacher that we have had here for years has had to take one.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018I will risk it,\u2019 he replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first day of school came, and the teacher appeared for duty. One big fellow named Tom whispered: \u2018I won\u2019t need any help with this one. I can lick him myself.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThe teacher said, \u2018Good morning, boys, we have come to conduct school.\u2019 They yelled and made fun at the top of their voices. \u2018Now, I want a good school, but I confess that I do not know how unless you help me. Suppose we have a few rules. You tell me, and I will write them on the blackboard.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cOne fellow yelled, \u2018No stealing!\u2019 Another yelled, \u2018On time.\u2019 Finally, ten rules appeared on the blackboard.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Now,\u2019 said the teacher, \u2018a law is not good unless there is a penalty attached. What shall we do with one who breaks the rules?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Beat him across the back ten times without his coat on,\u2019 came the response from the class.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018That is pretty severe, boys. Are you sure that you are ready to stand by it?\u2019 Another yelled, \u2018I second the motion,\u2019 and the teacher said, \u2018All right, we will live by them! Class, come to order!\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a day or so, \u2018Big Tom\u2019 found that his lunch had been stolen. The thief was located\u2014a little hungry fellow, about ten years old. \u2018We have found the thief and he must be punished according to your rule\u2014ten stripes across the back. Jim, come up here!\u2019 the teacher said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe little fellow, trembling, came up slowly with a big coat fastened up to his neck and pleaded, \u2018Teacher, you can lick me as hard as you like, but please, don\u2019t take my coat off!\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Take your coat off,\u2019 the teacher said. \u2018You helped make the rules!\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Oh, teacher, don\u2019t make me!\u2019 He began to unbutton, and what did the teacher see? The boy had no shirt on, and revealed a bony little crippled body.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018How can I whip this child?\u2019 he thought. \u2018But I must, I must do something if I am to keep this school.\u2019 Everything was quiet as death.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018How come you aren\u2019t wearing a shirt, Jim?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cHe replied, \u2018My father died and my mother is very poor. I have only one shirt and she is washing it today, and I wore my brother\u2019s big coat to keep me warm.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThe teacher, with rod in hand, hesitated. Just then \u2018Big Tom\u2019 jumped to his feet and said, \u2018Teacher, if you don\u2019t object, I will take Jim\u2019s licking for him.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Very well, there is a certain law that one can become a substitute for another. Are you all agreed?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cOff came Tom\u2019s coat, and after five strokes the rod broke! The teacher bowed his head in his hands and thought, \u2018How can I finish this awful task?\u2019 Then he heard the class sobbing, and what did he see? Little Jim had reached up and caught Tom with both arms around his neck. \u2018Tom, I\u2019m sorry that I stole your lunch, but I was awful hungry. Tom, I will love you till I die for taking my licking for me! Yes, I will love you forever!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
I am so grateful that Jesus was willing to take a \u201clicking\u2019 for each of us, atoning for our sins. His selfless sacrifice and infinite love is the true essence of Christmas. May our hearts be full of gratitude for Him and may we show our thanks by treating others with love throughout this Christmas week.<\/p>\n
~Amy Rees Anderson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The week of Christmas is upon us and my heart can\u2019t help but think about the true essence of Christmas \u2013 to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice he willingly made out of his infinite love for each one of us. It reminds me of a story I try to read each […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[168,395,501,500,6813,7301,46,11975,60,11979,342,1204,91,1151,947,327,105,11978,224,163,3268,11980,3968,96,5221,9246,218,51,996,93,743,102,189,11984,11977,29,244,65,2935,276,378,10416,11981,11974,1501,137,764,38,11976,35,1004,530,138,11982,2780,3557,1814,1096,112,1625,1416,145,343,3412,1723,149,1936,11973,11983,2924,7268],"class_list":["post-7566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-adversity","tag-amy-rees-anderson","tag-appreciate","tag-appreciation","tag-atone","tag-atonement","tag-attitude","tag-beating","tag-beautiful","tag-big-tom","tag-brother","tag-caring","tag-change","tag-charity","tag-christ","tag-christlike","tag-christmas","tag-christmastime","tag-confidence","tag-courage","tag-crime","tag-crippled","tag-cross","tag-culture","tag-died","tag-eternal-life","tag-failure","tag-family","tag-father","tag-fear","tag-forgive","tag-forgiveness","tag-friends","tag-full-of-joy","tag-gave-his-life","tag-god","tag-grateful","tag-gratitude","tag-hearts","tag-heavenly-father","tag-improve","tag-infinite","tag-infinite-atonement","tag-infinite-love","tag-jesus-christ","tag-kindness","tag-lds","tag-leadership","tag-licking","tag-love","tag-love-you","tag-mistake","tag-mother","tag-penalty","tag-poor","tag-punishment","tag-rules","tag-sacrifice","tag-self-improvement","tag-selfless","tag-serve","tag-service","tag-sister","tag-sorrow","tag-student","tag-success","tag-teacher","tag-the-essence-of-christmas","tag-till-i-die","tag-true-christmas-joy","tag-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7566"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7567,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7566\/revisions\/7567"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyreesanderson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}