Jeremy's Empty Egg

Easter Blessings to all who enter here.

Jeremy's Egg
Author Unknown

Jeremy was born with a twisted body, a slow mind and a chronic,
terminal illness that had been slowly killing him all his young life.
Still, his parents had tried to give him as normal a life as possible
and had sent him to St. Theresa's Elementary School.

At the age of 12, Jeremy was only in second grade, seemingly
unable to learn. His teacher, Doris Miller, often became
exasperated with him. He would squirm in his seat, drool and
make grunting noises. At other times, he spoke clearly and
distinctly, as if a spot of light had penetrated the darkness
of his brain. Most of the time, however, Jeremy
irritated his teacher.

One day, she called his parents and asked them to come to
St. Teresa's for a consultation. As the Forresters sat quietly
in the empty classroom, Doris said to them,
"Jeremy really belongs in a special school. It isn't
fair to him to be with younger children who don't have
learning problems. Why, there is a five-year gap between
his age and that of the other students!"

Mrs. Forrester cried softly into a tissue while her husband spoke.
"Miss Miller," he said, "there is no school of that kind nearby.
It would be a terrible shock for Jeremy if we had to take
him out of this school. We know he really likes it here."

Doris sat for a long time after they left, staring at the snow outside
the window. Its coldness seemed to seep into her soul. She
wanted to sympathize with the Forresters. After all, their only
child had a terminal illness. But it wasn't fair to keep him
in her class. She had 18 other youngsters to teach and
Jeremy was a distraction. Furthermore, he would never
learn to read or write. Why waste any more time trying?
As she pondered the situation, guilt washed over her.
"Oh God," she said aloud, "here I am complaining when
my problems are nothing compared with that poor family!
Please help me to be more patient with Jeremy."

From that day on, she tried hard to ignore Jeremy's noises
and his blank stares. Then one day he limped to her desk,
dragging his bad leg behind him. "I love you, Miss Miller," he
exclaimed, loudly enough for the whole class to hear.
The other children snickered, and Doris' face turned red.
She stammered, "Wh-Why, that's very nice, Jeremy.
Now please take your seat."

Spring came, and the children talked excitedly about the
coming of Easter. Doris told them the story of Jesus, and
then to emphasize the idea of new life springing forth,
she gave each of the children a large plastic egg.
"Now," she said to them "I want you to take this home and
bring it back tomorrow with something inside that shows
new life. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Miss Miller!" the children responded enthusiastically,
all except for Jeremy. He just listened intently,
his eyes never left her face. He did not even make his usual
noises. Had he understood what she had said
about Jesus' death and resurrection? Did he understand
the assignment? Perhaps she should call his parents
and explain the project to them.

That evening, Doris' kitchen sink stopped up. She called the
landlord and waited an hour for him to come by and unclog it.
After that, she still had to shop for groceries, iron a
blouse and prepare a vocabulary test for the next day. She
completely forgot about phoning Jeremy's parents.

The next morning, 19 children came to school, laughing
and talking as they placed their eggs in the
large wicker basket on Miss Miller's desk.

After they completed their Math lesson, it was time to open
the eggs. In the first egg, Doris found a flower.
"Oh yes, a flower is certainly a sign of new life," she said.
"When plants peek through the ground we know that
spring is here" A small girl in the first row waved her arms.
"That's my egg, Miss Miller," she called out.

The next egg contained a plastic butterfly, which looked very real.
Doris held it up. "We all know that a caterpillar changes and
grows into a beautiful butterfly. Yes that is new life, too."
Little Judy smiled proudly and said, "Miss Miller, that one is mine."

Next Doris found a rock with moss on it. She explained that the
moss, too, showed life. Billy spoke up from the back of
the classroom. "My Daddy helped me!" he beamed.
Then Doris opened the fourth egg. She gasped. The egg was empty!
Surely it must be Jeremy's, she thought, and, of course, he did
not understand her instructions. If only she had not forgotten
to phone his parents. Because she did not want to embarrass him,
she quietly set the egg aside and reached for another.

Suddenly Jeremy spoke up.
"Miss Miller, aren't you going to talk about my egg?" Flustered,
Doris replied, "but Jeremy - your egg is empty!" He looked into
her eyes and said softly, "Yes, but Jesus' tomb was empty too!"
Time stopped. When she could speak again. Doris asked him,
" Do you know why the tomb was empty?"
"Oh yes!" Jeremy exclaimed. "Jesus was killed and
put in there. Then his Father raised him up!"

The recess bell rang. While the children excitedly ran out to
the school yard, Doris cried. The cold inside her melted
completely away. Three months later Jeremy died.
Those who paid their respects at the mortuary were surprised
to see 19 eggs on top of his casket, all of them empty!