“As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.” Isaiah 66:13
Here is a short but true story that happened some years ago.
I am sharing to you a story about a little girl who at the age of 8 or 9 stopped liking her mother coming to pick her up from school. The reason was very simple but it was very hurting to the mother. Her mother had a big dark scar in her hands which made her hands look very ugly. The poor mother had been through a fire accident some years back and had her hands burnt.
Whenever this mother came to pick her up at School, the little girl’s friends would tease her by saying her mum’s hands looked ugly. This girl did not like it and when she has her friends come over to her house for her birthday party or on other special occasions, the girl would make sure that her mum is wearing gloves all the time until her friends leave. Later as years went by, she became very careful in not even introducing her mother to her friends. She was ashamed to introduce her mother. One day she was nineteen years old and on her birthday she had invited her friends from college for a dinner to her house. As the fun and chatter went on, they were invited to come to the table for dinner. Her mother took lots of effort to make her baby proud in making the best food ever and did not remember to wear the gloves. She brought the food to the table and started serving the food with a proud smile. That was it! The moment the mother went back into the kitchen, all the friends now began asking the girl about her mum’s hand and about the scars. One of her friends even said that she lost her hunger after she saw those ugly scars. The girl was very much embarrassed to an extent that she began yelling at her mother even in the presence of her friends. The poor mother only then realised that she forgot to wear her gloves. Even after all her friends left home, the girl was still angry and did not talk to her mother. The mother was so sad and even apologised to her daughter for not wearing the gloves. But nothing would calm her down. She was very angry on her mother and was also crying. The mother could not take it anymore – she could not see her daughter cry and so she went and put her arms around her daughter and said, “I am going to tell you something that I have not told you in 19 years.” The girl silently listened to what her mother was about to say. “My dear daughter, you lost your father when you were eight months old and ever since I have worked very hard to raise you up and I would do that happily for the rest of my life. But I am going to tell you the story behind these scars in my hands. Those days we didn’t have a washing machine and so I had to wash our clothes in the back of our house. One day as I was washing the clothes the neighbours came to me running and I noticed that our house was on fire and you were sleeping in the bedroom. The people around asked me not to enter the house to get you out as I could risk my life if I get in to save you and told me that they have phoned the fire fighters and they would be here very shortly. But, I could not stand out even for a second. Without a second thought I rushed into our house and ran upstairs to your bedroom and carried you in my hand and wrapped you around with clothes and brought you out safely. Only then my breath came back to me. But only then I realised that my hands were on fire and they got burnt. These scars remain in my hands because I risked my life to save you that day.” The girl with tears rolling down her eyes – took both her mother’s hands and kissed them and said, “These are the best hands I have ever seen in this world – I am proud of you mother” and she kept kissing them. She was so proud about her mother’s hands and shared the story with all her friends since then.
