The clouds looked like dryer lint as rain and sleet came falling out of the sky. A lone man, dressed in a plain overcoat, walked toward the big box store late Christmas Eve. If there truly was Peace on Earth and Goodwill to man, you wouldn’t find it on the shelves tonight. Or much else, for that matter. The store looked like it had been picked clean by starving locusts. A swarm of panicked shoppers searched the aisles for last minute Christmas gifts. The man stopped, looked at the door and smiled.
A black Ford Crown Victoria nearly hit him, causing the driver to scream at him and give him an obscene gesture. The man paused, smiled and said, “Please forgive me. Peace be with you.”
The driver felt a strange peace about him, smiled and drove on.
The man walked into the entrance. There stood a man ringing a bell. As he rang, he stared off into the distance. No sense making eye contact with people who were going to just reject him. The man in the overcoat paused, fished out an envelope and put it in the kettle. “God bless you, my friend,” the bell ringer said. When the generous man walked through the door, the man fished the envelope out of the kettle and peered inside. When volunteer saw the check inside, the bell hit the floor as he fainted.
The man in the overcoat looked at the mass of humanity and knew he had work to do. He came up to the greeter and smiled, “Merry Christmas my friend!”
The greeter smiled and said, “it’s my job to greet you!”
The man grinned as he walked past the greeter. When he did, the greeter felt an unknown peace.
Two kids were crying over in the toy section. Their mother’s face was flush and her voice was hoarse. It’s not that the kids had done anything wrong. It was just that the mother could not see a way for the kids to have a Christmas. The man in the overcoat walked past them and smiled. The kids instantly stopped crying as the stranger stopped and spoke to the mother, “I have this gift card I was given. I don’t need it. I’d like to pay my good fortune forward and give it to you. It’s for $100. I hope you will accept it as a token of my appreciation for the season.”
The mother, dumbfounded, struggled to say thank you. But she did. And as the stranger walked away, she felt an amazing peace.
The cashier was crying. Headed to her break, she had just been chewed out by a lady who thought she was being overcharged. She turned the corner rapidly and ran head-on into the man in the overcoat. She bounce off, fell and quickly got back up, embarrassed. “I’m so sorry, sir!”
The man smiled and said, “No worries child. I’m sorry you are having a bad day. This is Christmas and should be a time of joy.”
“Easy for you to say, sir. You don’t have to work.”
The man in the overcoat scratched his beard and said, “Be thankful for what you have. And don’t let one Grinch steal your Christmas.”
The employee looked into the eyes of the man and thought she knew him. “Yes, sir,” she said meekly. And for a reason she could not explain, as she walked to the break room, she also felt peace.
The man in the overcoat noticed the man who had chewed out the cashier walking in a huff through the store. He cut him off and and confronted him.
“Merry Christmas.”
“Outta of my way.”
The man in the overcoat smiled but did not move.
The rude customer started to get angry and was going to unleash a salvo of curse words at the idiot standing in his way. But as he did, the man touched him. He suddenly had a brilliantly clear vision of him as a child. He saw his parents sitting together by the tree as he unwrapped his presents. It must have been before his dad started drinking and his mother and him left. He felt so much joy watching that image. He felt the warmth rise through his body and the hate he felt flow out of his eyes in the form of black tears. The rude customer slumped down to his knees in the middle of the store. Forgiveness grasped the man by the heart and wouldn’t let him go.
The man in the overcoat smiled and said, “Like I said, Merry Christmas.”
He turned, looked at his 100-year-old watch and said, “Now if you will excuse me, I have someplace I need to be.”
The customer, still on his knees, watched as the stranger walked away. He called out, “WHO ARE YOU?”
The man in the overcoat said, “A friend.”
As the man in the overcoat walked out the exit, he noticed a mother with eight children. In it was only enough food for three of them. He walked past her cart and waved his hand. The ham and bread multiplied to feed the whole family.
The man in the overcoat smiled. He pulled his coat tight and headed into the parking lot. As the cold rain and sleet pelted his face, he was joined by a man in brilliant white.
“Where have you been?”
“Just celebrating my birthday, Gabriel. Just celebrating my birthday.”
Both men smiled and disappeared into the darkness.
