STORYTIME TAPESTRY

The Newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world

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Special Treat ??“ New writer ??“ Leona Ebling

Jan 23, 2006

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SPRING

Leona Ebling

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The winters had been long, cold and very bitter.?  The springs short, not very meaningful.?  Summers were hot, tiresome and dragging.?  Winter was just ahead.

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She was tired, even weary of living. Her soul, body and mind was worn out it seemed. There were things that were her responsibility to do.?  She had to go on living??¦if you could call existing, doing, living.?  Then on October sixth, a new birth!?  Live began again!?  Spring had arrived!

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The sunshine of a smile on a tiny rosebud mouth, the happy sparkling eyes that lit up her soul.?  In addition, song came sweeter than the bird??™s song before she could even walk or talk.

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Yes!?  The sunshine was again a warm and beautiful experience.?  She basked in the warm gentle rays as they reached down and touched her soul.?  They thawed out the after effects of the long, cold bitter winters of past years.?  And it all came in the form of a beautiful baby girl, as this mothers life began anew once again.

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The sunshine would always remain in the smile on this child??™s lips.?  In the happy sparkling eyes that lit up her mother??™s complete existence.?  Yes!?  God had given a miracle of life.?  In smiles, songs, and words born in this child.?  And spring was born again in the mother??™s soul.?  Life had become a precious thing.

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SUMMER

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Summer came, and it was not hot or tiresome anymore.?  Neither was it long, nor weary.?  For all the days were now filled with the happy sunshine of the smiles and sparkling eyes and the bubbling, refreshing, and cheerful sound of, ???I love you Mom.???

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On throughout the years, after the torrid and sultry days or showers of pounding rains, those words were as uplifting as the gentle breezes. An encouraging as the word of God where He tells us ???A little child shall lead them.???? 

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And her songs, thrilling the soul of her mother day by day.?  Music lived in her heart and soul and brought out the praises to God.?  From toddling steps to racing feet of surety, the first flowers of spring on throughout the year decorated the home as her mother received them.?  Dandelions, ragweed??™s, foxtail, roses, fall flowers and fall leaves, all came with ???I love you, Mom.????  In winter, the flowers on notebook paper and with manila paper backgrounds bloomed in full color.

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FALL

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Now it is fall and spring is still on the scene.?  With the warm sunny smile but the sparkling eyes have grown more serious now.?  The beautiful baby has suddenly matured into the budding beauty of womanhood.?  Time had raced by on winged feet.?  Only yesterday, it seemed she was a hurrying, giggling, pre-teenager in blue jeans.?  Riding bikes, bringing home friends and sharing secrets with only her best friend.

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Now she has acquired wisdom it seems far surpassing her years and the career desires of the young teen had now drifted from being a nurse or a teacher and is now holding a dream of her own home, and a family.?  Of course, there is this special guy!?  Will mom understand?? 

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Will she be the same mom Spring had always depended on for help??  The mom, who with a hug and a kiss had the cures for a bumped head as Spring began to walk.?  The same cure usually worked for a scraped knee received while climbing a tree or riding her bike.?  That same love cure also helped greatly in the healing of a broken arm received while flying her kite.?  This special love and attention she had always received so freely would it be the same now?

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The ???I love you mom??? words were even more precious now if this were possible. The flowers arrived faithfully after mom tried to understand and they were apart.?  Sometimes in a motel room miles from home spending a few hours together with a handful of dandelions and a hug and kiss, and the words ???I love you mom.???

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Then flowers on paper, smiley faces drawn with pencil or pen and I love you the long distance way.?  There were many shorter separations and then togetherness again.?  She shared her mother??™s pain and helplessness while nursing her broken bones through a long but precious time of winter.

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Oh! Then the joy and wonder of a new birth again, Spring had a daughter!?  A precious baby girl with the same happy smile and sparkling eyes though of a different color.?  Then the songs of a new nature thrilled the soul of her mother, her daughter singing to her own child.

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Yes!?  Though it was fall of the year there was no frost in her soul for it was still spring.

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WINTER

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Then it came and hit with a force never before felt.?  So quickly, it came, and without any mercy, it seemed.?  The smile, it was gone with no sparkling eyes now to light up her soul.?  No flowers, they must all be dead and the old paper ones on cards and notepaper they cut like the sharp north wind on the mother??™s heart.? 

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The song stilled in the house. The lovely voice was gone! Yes!?  Winter had begun and as it kills out the grass of the field, all the flowers seemed to wither and die.?  Even the birds took their song and left. Her soul withered without the sound of those songs.?  Her heart began to freeze over without the ???I love you mom??? heard, and she felt like it was the ending of the end.

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Her soul froze with winter??™s arrival and spring that seemed like a forever thing had lasted only sixteen short years...?  Now her mind was numb and her heart broken, life was finished for her.

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She began remembering the freezing, dieing time.?  How Spring??™s smile had grown more serious then died on the beautiful lips.?  Confusion, fear, uncertainty had clouded the sparkle in the eyes until it was forced out and faded completely. The song almost hushed, only used to sing to her own springtime, her daughter.

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Those words ???I love you mom??? stilled and in their place came bitter, accusing words.? ?  Words never before uttered some cutting, hurting, and destroying to them both.?  Lack of trust, fears, doubts, and no communication for the first time took its toll.? 

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It caused the seasons to change from spring, then the hot weary days in summer, with its heat of rash words.?  Fall came with its cold looks and killing frost.?  Now winter, was it to stay forever??  Is there not a spring to look forward too?

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The body shook, chilling from the shock of the loss of warmth since spring.?  The mind shut up in a cold world of heartache and then nothingness!?  Numb! The mothers soul rejected any help, or hope.?  Her song of praise had died.?  Tears ceased to flow and froze around the heart in hard clods of protection.?  She wanted protection from feeling, caring, or becoming involved.?  Her faith though once so great, now shook and then finally broken.

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Yet the cultivation of love of a special kind kept winters blast from coming through the years.?  Hardy seeds planted from the word of God were ready to spring forth ???into a new life??? as the watering by hard storms gradually turning into gentle showers.

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Thawing by the rays of the warm spring sun and encouraged to life again by the sounds of birds rejoicing as spring is slowly returning.?  And although it is a long time even looking like it is coming, even the birds know the signs. This mother also felt it and knew if she left it in Gods hands that He was in perfect control and was never too late.?  It just has to be left in His hands and to trust as she waited.

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She had misunderstood.?  She had become protective, fighting, with the mother instinct.?  In doing so she got hurt in return while tearing down the trust built over the years as she also destroyed a new trust and love she was building through God.

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Was it able to return, to be spring again, starting over anew, fresh, and better??  Only time will tell, and she must remember time waits for no one. Although winters arrival was only a short time ago with its fierceness and bitter cold, the bitterness makes it seem like an eternity already.?  Will it change??  Will spring return??  Yes!?  Time will tell and time is no respecter of persons.

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Now time brings a touch from the Master??™s hand. An old school photo with a delightful smile and the words, to mom ???I love you??? on the bottom brings a torrent of tears.?  Tears that water the frozen heart.?  Then a small unexpected shower as a smiley face or a flower on paper is seen in the chest of drawers discovered by accident.?  Or pressed dandelions or roses between the pages of her old bible, keepsakes of Spring.

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Maybe in the still of the lonely night or a lonely afternoon, poignant memories, come so plain of the lovely voice singing, or saying, ???I love you mom.????  Even a note in her old sweater pocket always signed, ???I love you mom???? 

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The showers of tears came sometimes flooding, sometimes flowing gently, working, at thawing out the core of life, the hurting heart.?  Breaking loose those clods of bitterness and hurt mixed with the guilt as slowly spring appears a little at a time with hope.? 

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Memories of a good and precious time of spring times past lets out the killing frost and brings forth again a new spring right in the middle of December.

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Now the mother and her Spring are sure the sun will shine again because though the winters may be cold and cruel as well as long there will be spring any time of the year for God has promised.

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The flowers will again decorate this home.?  Some fresh and picked from the yard.?  Some on cards and on paper hand drawn.?  Little hands will learn about how much love can be given in a flower.

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The songs will be harmonious and be numbered soon by three.?  And sparkling eyes will sparkle sometimes because of tears as good-byes are necessary for a time but they will sparkle with love and happiness on returning.

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And last but not least ???I love you mom??? and I love you grandma??? will keep on ringing out for the mothers lifetime.?  Sometimes they will be on paper, sometimes long distance and sometime with a hug.?  However, one thing she has learned, Spring will always be with her, near her, alive and in her heart all the time and in any season.

Written by Leonia Ebling

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wwjdleona@aol.com

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For more of Leonia??™s personal testimonies and short stories plus poetry her book ???Dancing with Life??? is for sale online at Barnes & Nobel, Amazon, Border Books, and AuthorHouse.com? ?  It also features blank pages for you to use to record your own memories, testimonies, etc. as you are reading.?  This makes it a wonderful gift to share with loved ones or friends.