Devotion for the Week of December 11, 2006

I recently read an article about The Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh, Scotland. According to this article it is filled with childhood treasures - teddy bears and puppets, rocking horses and model trains, books and games, and doll houses. And along with those doll houses are glass case after glass case of dolls. Dolls of all sorts - baby dolls, porcelain dolls, costumed dolls, walking and talking dolls, dolls that can turn somersaults, and expensive dolls.

Off in one corner is a case that holds behind its glass panes, another doll sitting alone. It's an old, ragged doll, much the worse for wear. But then, it began its life raggedy.

There is no doubt that this doll was well loved or that it was born out of love. For it being shabby and thread-bear, it has a value untold. The little museum sign that goes with this doll says, “Doll belonging to London slum child, circa 1905.” There is no name for the doll. There is no name for the child who loved it.

The doll's body is made of tattered brown socks, stuffed with rags. Its arms are two thin sticks of wood, covered in wool. Its hair is a sock. It wears a plain gingham dress and a rough linen apron. For all its simplicity, one can tell it was made with painstaking effort. The head of this doll is nothing fancy, in fact if it was not on the doll one may not recognize it for a doll’s head. For the head is mad from the heel of a man's shoe. Only that. A worn down, battered heel with the nail heads visible around the edges. For a face, the doll has small bits of paper pasted on. Paper eyes, paper nose, paper mouth. Some might call it ugly. They would be wrong.

It is possible the child, someone who was possibility born, lived and died in the slums of London, made it for herself. Perhaps, it was a gift created by a mother or a father who was poor in possessions and all they could give was a symbol of their love which was a value beyond measure.

No one needs to have wealth to create something valuable. One need only to reach deep within where “value” is defined. No one needs to have wealth to give a gift. One need only to have the desire to give. To use whatever poor things are at hand and to make of them the best gift possible.

"This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger." (Luke 2.12)