One Christmas, when I was still in high school, I remember unwrapping a present from my mother. That year, like every year before, I had asked for money. When I picked up the present, I heard something in the box rattle. Money does not rattle! I remember thinking, “What is going on?” After I opened the box, I saw a collection of walnuts and a nutcracker. I am sure I looked bewildered and disappointed. My mother encouraged me to crack open a nut. When I cracked open that first walnut, I saw folded money in it! As I cracked each nut, I unearthed a variety of denominations of paper money. Wow! When I was done cracking, I had more money than I had ever gotten in previous years.
Some fifty years later, I still recall that moment so vividly. What I remember is having a mother who took the time to painstakingly crack open walnuts to have enough of them that had split exactly down the middle; fold money; insert it into each walnut and then glue each one back together. That took time and patience and so much love! She had found a creative, loving way to surprise her daughter. She taught her not to judge the “book by its cover” or a “box by its rattle.” What a wonderful life-lesson!
Thanks be to God for giving me a mother who would consistently demonstrate her love in creative and loving ways! And thanks be to God who does the same for all of us!!!
—Belinda Alkula
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