The Doll and a White Rose

I was touched after reading this story. I hope you will be touched too. There are a lot of negative stories about bullying going around social media. This will be different. This Christmas season, I hope people will find it in their hearts to take a moment and be grateful for everything.

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."¹

"The Doll and a White Rose" by V.A. Bailey 

I hurried into the local department store to grab some last minute Christmas gifts. I looked at all the people and grumbled to myself. I would be in here forever and I just had so much to do. Christmas was beginning to become such a drag. I kind of wished that I could just sleep through Christmas. But I hurried the best I could through all the people to the toy department. Once again I mumbled to myself at the prices of all these toys, and wondered if the grandchildren would even play with them.

I found myself in the doll aisle. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a little boy about 5 holding a lovely doll. He kept touching her hair and he held her so gently. I couldn't seem to help myself. I just kept looking over at the little boy and wondered who the doll was for.

I watched him turn to a woman and he called his aunt by name and said, "Are you sure I don't have enough money." She replied a bit impatiently, "You know that you don't have enough money for it. The aunt told the little boy not to go anywhere because she had to go get some other things and would be back in a few minutes. And then she left the aisle.

The boy continued to hold the doll. After a bit I asked the boy who the doll was for. He said, "It is the doll my sister wanted so badly for Christmas. She just knew that Santa would bring it." I told him that maybe Santa was going to bring it. He said "No, Santa can't go where my sister is, I have to give the doll to my Momma to take to her."

I asked him where his sister was. He looked at me with the saddest eyes and said, "She has gone to be with Jesus. My Daddy says that Momma is going to have to go be with her."

My heart nearly stopped beating. Then the boy looked at me again and said, "I told my Daddy to tell Momma not to go yet. I told him to tell her to wait till I got back from the store." Then he asked me if I wanted to see his picture. I told him I would love to. He pulled out some pictures he'd had taken at the front of the store. He said, "I want my Momma to take this with her so she doesn't ever forget me. I love my Momma so very much and I wish she did not have to leave me. But Daddy says she will need to be with my sister."

I saw that the little boy had lowered his head and had grown so very quiet. While he was not looking, I reached into my purse and pulled out a hand-full of bills. I asked the little boy, "Shall we count that money one more time?"

He grew excited and said, "Yes, I just know it has to be enough" So I slipped my money in with his and we began to count it. And of course it was plenty for the doll. He softly said, "Thank you Jesus for giving me enough money."

Then the boy said, "I just asked Jesus to give me enough money to buy this doll so Momma can take it with her to give to my sister. And he heard my prayer. I wanted to ask him for enough to buy my Momma a white rose, but I didn't ask him, but he gave me enough to buy the doll and a rose for my Momma. She loves white roses so very, very much."

In a few minutes the aunt came back and I wheeled my cart away. I couldn't keep from thinking about the little boy as I finished my shopping in a totally different spirit than when I had started. And I kept remembering a story I had seen in the newspaper several days earlier about a drunk driver hitting a car and killing a little girl and the mother was in serious condition. The family was deciding on removal of the life support. Now surely this little boy did not belong with that story.

Two days later I read in the paper where the family had disconnected the life support and the young woman had died. I couldn't forget the little boy and just kept wondering if the two were somehow connected. Later that day, I couldn't help myself and I went out and bought some white roses and took them to the funeral home where the young woman was. And there she was holding a lovely white rose, the beautiful doll, and the picture of the little boy in the store.

I left there in tears, my life changed forever. The love that little boy had for his little sister and his mother was overwhelming. In a split second a drunk driver had ripped the life of that little boy to pieces.²

Please don't drink and drive this holiday season nor throughout the coming year.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me to always be sensitive to the needs of others around me and, where needed, help me to reach and be as Jesus to them as the lady in today's lesson reached out to the heart-broken little boy. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen." 

1. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV).

2. "The Doll and a White Rose" by V.A. Bailey. Source Unknown. 

Aquaman Movie Review

SPOILER ALERT

I wouldn't have watched this movie if not for my husband. He insisted that we should watch it so yesterday we did. As soon as the theaters changed program, he immediately told me that Aquaman is now showing. We were supposed to watch it at 12 noon, however we were delayed because of some circumstances so we opted to watch it at 1 pm. We watched at SM uptown CDO. We had lunch first at Mang Inasal. Then as soon as we were done, up the escalator we went.

So here's my review. It was amazing! The graphics were so believable! I laughed because there were funny moments. I cried because there were teary moments. I was shocked because there were a lot of shocking moments as well. Aquaman is one of the DC comic superheroes. He is also one of the justice league. In the Justice League movie, he was there alongside Superman, Wonderwoman, Batman, the Flash and Cyborg.

Aquaman is played by Jason Momoa of Game of Thrones fame. He played Khal Drogo in GOT opposite Daenerys Stormborn. The role of Aquaman really fits him to a T.  He has a big body and very strong. I like the scene in the submarine where he just throws down the pirates. One of the pirates hated him because Aquaman let his father die. This pirate got Atlantean technology from King Orm because he wanted to show one of the Kings of Atlantis that surface people were destroying their Kingdom and get his support to attack the surface.

This is Princess Mera, the daughter of King Darius, King of one of the Kingdoms in Atlantis. She went to the surface to ask Arthur to go home to Atlantis and claim his rightful place. She has power to control water. She is also very strong. She is played by Amber Heard. I admire her as an actress and she's also very pretty although there were some scenes where she appeared old. 

I read a story on the web that says that Arthur and Mera are married. In the movie, they fell in love. Yey!

Nicole Kidman plays Atlanna, the queen of Atlantis who fled to the surface and met the lighthouse keeper Tom Curry off the coast of Maine. They fell in love and she bore a son. They named him Arthur. Arthur is Aquaman and the King of Atlantis. Atlanna fled to the surface because she didn't want to marry the merman her father picked for her. When Arthur was still a toddler, her father wanted her to return to Atlantis. So she decided to go home, however she was thrown in the trench where no one could survive but she survived. Arthur went to the Kingdom of the Trench because that is where the trident was located. 

This is the villain in the movie played by Paul Wilson. He plays King Orm, the half brother of Arthur. He is the son of Atlanna to the Atlantean she was promised to. He played it very well. What is the conflict in the movie? King Orm wanted to declare war to the surface people because they pollute the oceans. He was going around asking the other Kings to join him. King of the Fishermen didn't want to join him and King Orm killed him right in front of his fishqueen and fishdaughter.

The underwater war scene was so awesome. When all sea creatures refused to attack Aquaman, it was very spectacular. Aquaman rode this huge crablike creature called the Kraken from under the ocean floor.

And King Orm was defeated. He urged Aquaman to kill him but Arthur did not oblige. He just said, "We'll talk when you're ready." At this point he acted so Kingly.

So peace was established. No more attack on the surface people.

I love a movie with a happy ending.

Don't leave the theater yet because there's a post credit scene showing that the pirate survived his encounter with Aquaman and vowed to find him.

Mortal Engines

I haven't heard of this movie but after watching it last night. Wow! It was amazing. It was set 3000 years into the future of civilization. Cities were on wheels. What's amazing was that Peter Jackson is the co-writer/producer of this film. He was of the Lord of the Rings fame, one of my favorite movie series of all time. So back to mortal engines. It made me cry. The scene where the resurrected died because he realized that Hester was inlove. It was heartbreaking. The actors were not famous though I've seen them star in some movies. I think you are missing a lot if you haven't watched this movie. The graphics were great. It was s believable. The scenery was breathtaking. Kudos to the animators and artists behind the scenes. The movie was based on a book of the same title by British author Philip Reeve.

Watch the trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRsFc2gguEg

Watch the commentary of the director Christian Rivers and co-writer/producer Peter Jackson.

https://www.imdb.com/list/ls028857207/videoplayer/vi630438425?ref_=vi_nxt_ap

If you haven't watched this movie yet. You should. 

The resurrected was the one who raised Hester Shaw played by Hera Hilmarsdottir.