Samuel’s Gift for Baby Jesus!

2.

My Best Friend Mary and the Very Bright, Mysterious Light

Mary loved Samuel’s visits, and he loved visiting Mary, too! Just as Samuel arrived at Mary's house, she came out greeting him with two long, crunchy, orange carrots. They visited under the large walnut tree with wide stretching branches and pink flowers.

Mary and Joseph the carpenter were to wed soon, and everyone in the town was excited. Samuel loved weddings. Besides that, Mary promised he could get all groomed and walk along with her and Joseph. After all, Samuel and Mary were very best friends.

After a long and wonderful visit with Mary, sharing all sorts of stories, Samuel said goodbye and started for home. He remembered he had told his mom he would help Caramia Joy and Lucia Bea carry fresh hay into the barn for their company.

Having trotted just a short distance down the path to his barn, Samuel turned back toward Mary’s house to give her one more big, toothy grin and a hee-haw. That’s when he saw something that frightened him. There was a very bright, mysterious light shining out of Mary’s window!

“What could that be?” Samuel wondered. The sun had been setting, but it wasn't dark enough to light candles. Plus, no candle had ever shed that much light! Samuel looked again, blinking his eyes, expecting the light to be gone, but no, the very bright, mysterious light was still shining out of Mary's window.

He headed back toward Mary’s home, quietly approaching the window, and halted dead in his tracks! Peeking inside, Samuel was not sure what he was seeing, but it was beautiful, peaceful, and was radiating a very bright light.

Mary was standing in the corner of her room facing the light, which began speaking to her. Samuel didn't want to intrude, but he could not get his legs to move, so he stood wide¬¬-eyed, with ears bent in the window, quietly listening.

The angel— yes, it was an angel— spoke to Mary. “Greetings from the Lord,” the angel said. When Samuel heard that deep, smooth voice, his tail wagged, his eyes popped open wide, and he shivered all over in amazement.

Mary looked frightened by the intruder, but the angel went on to tell her not to be afraid, for she had found favor with the Lord.

The angel said his name was Gabriel, and he was sent to Nazareth by God to deliver a very special message to Mary. Gabriel told Mary she was going to have a baby boy, and she was to name her son Jesus.

Gabriel told Mary that her relative Elizabeth was also going to have a baby. Mary couldn't believe what she was hearing, for Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah were older, and though they desired to have children, they never had any.

Samuel didn't know how Mary felt, but his heart was pounding, his reddish brown mane was standing straight up, his skinny knees felt weak and wobbly, and his tail was twitching.

He had just witnessed an incredible event!

Samuel shook his head, thinking this vision would surely disappear, but it did not. Mary's child would be the Son of God! Samuel’s legs were giving out and he fought to remain calm and not cause any commotion by falling over on the ground. The last thing he wanted to do was to interrupt this meeting, and he would have been embarrassed if Mary knew he had been listening in on a very private conversation.

When the angel finished speaking, young Mary calmly announced, “May it be to me as you have said,” and at that moment, the angel was gone. Backing away from the window without making a sound, Samuel quickly trotted home.

Samuel wasn't very hungry at dinnertime. Who could eat after seeing what he had just seen? He told his mom that he was very sleepy and wanted to go to bed early. He didn’t think he should share with anyone what he had just witnessed.

The fresh hay Caramia Joy, Lucia Bea, and Samuel brought into the barn earlier that day was wonderful. Samuel loved the smell of the fields and the dirt. He kicked the hay into a big fluffy pile and plopped down onto his heavenly bed.

Samuel prayed to God, asking Him to protect Mary, and he told God he was sorry he had listened to Gabriel speaking to her, but he loved his friend and wanted to make sure she was safe when he saw the very bright, mysterious light shining out her window.

Samuel drifted off to sleep, snoring, and dreaming about the beautiful vision he had seen through Mary's window that afternoon.