Fiction / Spirituality

On a Cold Winter Day – A Short, short story

Paul left on a cold winter day.

He did not know where to go, but he knew he had to get away.”Nobody cares anyway,” Paul thought, viciously kicking his boots through the snow. His eyes blinded to the loveliness that surrounded him. Paul didn’t notice the delicate snowflakes floating, lazy, downward. Nor the majestic trees iced with fallen snow.

Compulsion tugged Paul magnetically forward, spurring him on and on. He walked and walked. Still, he could not stop. He boarded a bus. His eyes were staring, unseeing out the window. Then he took the subway, jostled by the crowds.

Arriving at Union Station, he wandered through it and outside. Downtown the Christmas lights glittered. Decorations in storefronts sparkled festive beauty. But Paul did not notice. Nothing affected the haze that blanketed him.

The polar vortex’s biting cold sliced through his coat. He needed a hot drink; he had to get warm. So he found a Starbucks, bought a coffee. But the restlessness would not stop.

With his coffee, Paul headed back outside, roaming the streets. He slowed down, pacing himself — exhaustion flowing through his veins. Breathing deeply he looked around, finally saw the streets and storefronts dressed in Christmas finery.

And suddenly, he stopped.

There before him, a nativity scene and behind it light in the shape of a cross. But the words big and bold captured his attention.

GOD IS MINDFUL OF US; HE GAVE US HIS SON.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manager.

Luke 1:11&12

He bowed his head and wept.

After a while, calmmness settled over Paul and somehow he knew he was no longer alone. And with it came a profound assurance that Someone did, indeed care, and more than that the sure knowledge that he was loved.

Forever and always,

Loved.

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