Sweet Messengers
November 29, 2008
Christmas was still a long was off when Lori Poczekaj’s father became ill. Her mother rented a wheelchair and insisted on caring for him at home. “Dad was still very energetic,” Lori says. “We hoped he would have the strength to get well and spend many more holidays with us.”
Lori’s father had built the house the elderly couple lived in. It was on the edge of a field bordered with pine trees. “And although there were always animals around, during the twenty years they had lived in the house, they had seen a deer only twice,” Lori recalls. “It was odd, since the woods seemed like the perfect place for deer to live.” Now, as his world grew smaller, Lori’s father stayed in his wheelchair, looking out the dining room’s sliding glass doors.
Once his wife asked, “Wouldn’t you like to sit in the living room so you can watch the cars go by, and wave to our neighbors?”
“No, I’d rather sit here and look for animals,” he replied. “Maybe I’ll finally see some.”
When Lori’s mother told her abut the conversation, Lori went home and prayed. “I asked God to let my dad see a deer, the most tranquil of all animals, while he was sitting in that wheelchair,” she says. “I was very specific about it.”
When no deer appeared, Lori amended her prayer. “Okay, God,” she said. “How about any animal? A raccoon, opossum, even a neighbor’s cat? You know how much this would mean to Dad.”
But nothing happened, and eventually Lori’s father was confined to his bed. It was clear that her father wasn’t going to see any animals or celebrate another Christmas. Lori prayed, but now she was angry. “God, I know I’m not supposed to question my faith, but I’m having a hard time.” Would she have to wait until after her father died? Would God send a sign to let her know Dad was safe with Him?
Lori’s father died just before dawn one morning. An hour later, Lori and most of her seven brothers and sisters had assembled in the house, weeping or lost in a daze. Life would never be the same for any of them. Was Dad in heaven? How would they know?
Suddenly one of Lori’s brothers looked out the sliding glass doors. “Hey, everybody, come here!” he called.
Lori and the others went to the door. “Standing in the back yard, maybe twenty feet away, were ten or eleven deer,” Lori recalls. “None of us had seen them approach.” The animals stood motionless, facing the house, as if at attention. For a moment, they looked calmly at the hushed family. Then, as if their mission had been accomplished, they turned in unison and bounded away.
No one has seen the mysterious herd since. “But whenever I am missing my dad, I remember that morning and it always eases my mind,” says Lori. She knows without a doubt that her father celebrates Christmas every day.
© 1998 Joan Wester Anderson www.joanwanderson.com Originally appeared in Woman’s Day Magazine.
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