Joshua's Birthday by Naty Matos (guided reading books .txt) 📕

The first grade teacher had prepared a play for the school. All the parents had been invited to attend. There was a brunch catered, it was the holiday season after all. The parents were so proud that their children would be participating in stage, but they also were intrigued about the fact that the teacher had decided to do a different play than the usual nativity scene. None of the kids had been asked to dress as shepherds or Middle Eastern kings. No girl had been asked to be an angel or a Virgin Mary or Joseph with a staph. The children were asked to dress for a party and to bring a gift for another child.

The elementary school room was full. When the curtains of the stage opened, there were several tables across the stage. A group of girls walked in with table cloths. They were talking about how happy they was to be celebrating Joshua’s birthday and how much they wanted everything to be perfect. The girls started dressing up the tables with the white table clothes. Some of them left the stage and came back bringing centerpieces and tableware to do the finishing touches. After setting the table the girls left the stage.

One of the tallest kids in the class came in with a small pine tree. He placed it in back at the center of the stage. He made a comment to the effect that it would be great to have this tree in the middle of the celebration, that it would make everything look better and brighter. Another group of kids entered the stage and started decorating the tree.
Two other boys carried together a two tier cake and placed it on the table. The cake was white and blue. One of the boys mentioned that he knew everyone would love the cake as it was chocolate. It had written in bold letters, “Happy Birthday, Joshua”. They went out of the stage and brought back trays with snacks and bottles of sodas. These two kids started helping the group that was decorating the tree.

The first group of girls came back into the stage with streamers and lights. They were placing them near the wall and around the edges of the stage. They were chatting about how great the party was going to be and how much fun they were going to have. They even set a special table for the guest of honor…Joshua.

The first scene was over and the curtains on the stage closed. Applause followed by the proud parents who had been watching the kids. It was time to start the second part of the play.

Slowly music started playing as the curtains opened once again. All the kids were on stage; they were mingling and starting to eat from the snack table that had been set up. The lights on stage dimmed and a spotlight focused on the left side of the stage. A short child with a white robe entered the stage and announced. “Hey guys, I’m here. Wow you did a great job! I’m so happy that all of you came to celebrate my birthday” Not a single child turned around to acknowledge him. They kept their conversation, eating and talking amongst each other.

The child in the robe attempted again, he went to the table were the food was and tried to grab something. One of the other kids grabbed his hand off the table, “why are you trying to eat that? This is for the party!” Joshua’s face showed confusion.

He then approached a girl that had a box packaged in gold paper with a big bow. He was sure that it was a present for him. He tried to grab the box from the girl who in a very aggravated tone of voice snapped at him, “This is not for you. I brought this for Billy!” Joshua’s chin dropped to his chest. He went to the table that had been set for the guest of honor, and sat there lonely. He was visibly sad and looking at the audience said “I don’t understand this. They went through all the trouble of preparing this party to celebrate my birthday. Now they don’t want to spend time with me, they don’t want to share the things they prepared with me and they are giving gifts to each other and they brought nothing for me” The little boy pretended to cry and placed his head between his arms on the table as the curtains closed one more time.

The parents started murmuring in the audience. The kids had done a great job so far, but they were not following the story. Why would they have a birthday party and then ignore the kid? It didn’t make sense.

From behind the curtain a girl emerged and said, “You must be wondering why we went through all the trouble of preparing this party for Joshua and then didn’t spend any time with him and even though everything around us said that the party was for him, we ended partying amongst ourselves. Well, we do that every year for Christmas, don’t we? “And the little girl ran behind the curtain.

A boy emerged from the curtain this time and addressed the audience, “ Every year we celebrate Christmas, which is when we celebrate the day that we have chosen to Celebrate Jesus’ birthday, but how much of that celebration has anything to do with Jesus and is for Jesus” the boy ran behind the curtain.

Another girl came out to address the audience, “We buy gifts for each other. We eat with our friends and families and we only remember Jesus when we thank him for the things he gave us, but what do we give him? “, and the girl went backstage.

The child with the robe came out and sat at the edge of the stage still sad. “Can you imagine if this was your birthday party? How would you feel? Do you forget that I love you, that I was born and died for you? I want to spend time with you, just like you want to spend time with those you love. The biggest gift you can give me is your heart and being my agents of blessing and peace on the earth. So will you celebrate this year with me or will I spend another birthday alone?”

The music increased in volume, the curtains opened for a last time bringing all the kids to the front to be applauded for their performance.
The comments didn’t wait. Some parents felt the message had pierced their heart; some were even teary eyed realizing how empty their celebration had been up to that time. On the other hand, some waited just enough for their kids to come off the stage to leave, they were angry and offended that they were told that their celebration didn’t exalt Jesus, who was this teacher who was judging their way of doing things? They were even rumors that those were going to be talking to the school principal the following week about monitoring the content of the activities where the children were allowed to be involved.

At the end it is all in the perspective and the condition of the heart whether the message is understood or not. Christmas is not about trees, lights, alcohol and excess of food. It’s not about going broke to make sure that people acquire more belongings. There’s nothing wrong with sharing love, presents and time with our loved ones, but do we miss the real significance of Christmas. It has been the chosen day when our redemption started; the fact that we were given the chance to eternal life, salvation and the forgiveness of our sin. For generations we have chosen to allow our selfish nature to make this about us and not about Him.

My dear reader, how will you celebrate your Christmas this year?

Publication Date: 01-07-2011

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