Last night I placed my shoes outside my door. It was not because they smelled or theywere covered in mud. I was waiting for Saint Nicholas to stop by for a visit.
It was only since starting college that I first heard about Saint Nicholas. One of my professors would celebrate Saint Nicholas Day with his students by bringing cookies and apple juice to class. The first tale I heard about Saint Nicholas goes something like this:
Saint Nicholas lived in modern day turkey, formully known as Asia Minor, during the third century. Nicholas' parents, who taught him to live a Christian life, passed while he was still a teenager, but they had left him with an abundance of money. While living with his uncle after his parent's death, he heard of a man who had lost all his money and Nicholas felt called to action. This man had three daughers and would not be able to pay the dowry for them to get married and begin their own families. The reality was coming that this poor man would need to sell his daughters into slavery.
It was the eve of the night that the oldest daughter was going to be sold into slavary. She had washed her stockings and placed them by the fire to dry.
When the family woke up the next morning they noticed something in the stocking. The daughter reached in to find a large lump of gold -- enough to support the family and pay for her dowry. In the morning to follow, another bag of gold appeared, which would save the second daughter.
The father, realizing he had three daughters, decided he would stay up the third night in order to catch who was performing these acts. As he was nodding off, he heard a noise as the third bag of gold appeared. The father awoke and saw Nicholas.
The father than began thanking Nicholas. Nicholas refused the gratitude and directed the man to give thanks to God for answering his prayers.
This was not the last family Nicholas helped. And since he did not want any attention or thanks, he continue to perform these acts of kindness in secret. While still young, Nicholas was chosen to be Bishop. Nicholas continued to show kindness to his people, especially to children and sailors.
Later on I realized that there are many other tales about Saint Nicholas, but all include his random acts of kindness. Today, Saint Nicholas is celebrated most heavily in European countries like the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Children leave their shoes out and awake with gifts. Many celebrate Saint Nicholas day with gifts allowing for the attention to be focused on Christ on Christmas morning.
A coworker of mine shares that her father dresses up as Saint Nicholas on December 6th. Each year he denies that he is her father and holds true to the fact that he is Saint Nicholas, saying 'Saint Nicholas comes through the ones you love.'
May we be challenged to keep the spirit of Saint Nicholas alive in our everyday lives through the kindness we show not to just those we love, but also the stranger.
Today did not start as planned, to say the least. But now I'm sitting at the Dunn Brothers that is attached to the Ramsey Country Library, a beautiful building with lime green accents and clean, crisp look. I believe I have found rest in what use to be an old church pew that is covered with a mahogany colored leather. I have purchased Fun.'s iTunes session and have been listening to it on repeat.
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