The Ultimate Gift (The Ultimate Series #1) (6 page)

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Authors: Jim Stovall

BOOK: The Ultimate Gift (The Ultimate Series #1)
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Jason stood and sighed, saying, “I’ve come this far. I may as well see what my crazy great-uncle had in mind.”
As we walked along the dusty street, the three of us must have made quite a conspicuous sight, as many of the local residents came out to look at us. There were many simple wood and sheet-metal structures, and as we got to the end of the street, the last building on the left was slightly larger and more modern than the rest. A sign over the door in both Spanish and English read, Howard “Red” Stevens Library.
When Jason spotted the name, he began to laugh and asked, “What is going on?”
As I climbed the three steps and opened the door, I said, “I think you’ll find out what you need to know inside.”
We entered the library and were greeted by a pleasant young woman at the counter. She spoke English very well as she greeted us and said, “I assume you are Mr. Hamilton and Miss Hastings.”
I nodded yes, and her eyes brightened as she looked at Jason and exclaimed, “You must be Jason Stevens. We are very proud to have you here. Señor Red Stevens was a great man who helped all the people in our village.”
I cleared my throat and said, “Jason, for the next four weeks, you will be assisting the librarian in her duties. You will have everything you need here to learn the lesson that your great-uncle wants you to learn.”
Jason raised his voice louder than necessary and stated, “I may not have done well in school or learned much in college, but I can’t believe that there is anything to be learned in this tiny place that I haven’t had access to before.”
Jason turned a complete circle as he surveyed the one-room library.
“This place is made up mostly of empty shelves. There’s only a handful of books here,” he observed.
The librarian smiled and explained, “All of the books are being read by people in our village and for miles around. Your great-uncle told us when he gave us this library that books don’t do any good sitting on the shelf.”
I told Jason that Miss Hastings and I would be leaving him to his work, but we would be checking in on him daily.
Over the next four weeks, I slipped into the pleasant lifestyle of the village. Miss Hastings and I took several side trips and had ample opportunities for sightseeing and the collection of native artwork. The people were all friendly and pleasant, especially as they learned that I represented their late, great benefactor Red Stevens.
As we checked on Jason each day, we discovered he was actually going about his task with more energy and diligence than I had expected. He became proficient at getting the books checked in and checked out rapidly, and he would often converse with the library patrons about the books that they had read.
As the last day of our scheduled trip arrived, I almost hated to leave the pleasant village. Everyone came onto the street to wish us well, and we departed in what seemed to be the same cab in which we had arrived.
After a hard day of traveling, we found ourselves back at the Boston airport, where we collected our luggage and walked toward the parking lot.
Jason hurried a few steps in front of us, turned to block our path, and said, “Hold it right here. I did everything that you said, I worked hard in the library, and I looked at every book they had in that dinky little place. There was nothing new to be learned there. The only thing that I found out is that there are good and simple people who will get up hours before daylight and will walk many miles along mountain trails to get a tattered old copy of a book. The only thing I can honestly say I know now that I didn’t know when we left here four weeks ago is that the desire and hunger for education is the key to real learning.”
As Miss Hastings and I stepped around either side of Jason and moved toward the car, I called over my shoulder, “Congratulations, young man. I will see you in the office on Monday, and we will discover where we go from here.”
Miss Hastings and I got our luggage into the trunk of the car, and as we drove through the exit of the airport parking lot, I could still see Jason rooted in the same place—no doubt thinking about the lesson we had all learned.
SEVEN
 
THE GIFT OF PROBLEMS
 
Problems can only be avoided
by exercising good judgment.
Good judgment can only be gained
by experiencing life’s problems.
I will admit to having a sense of anticipation the following Monday as I contemplated the possible direction of the next act in Jason Stevens’ life drama. I marveled at how my oldest and dearest friend, Red Stevens, could reach out from beyond the grave to impact a young life.
At the appointed hour, Miss Hastings ushered Jason into the conference room and summoned me to our monthly encounter with destiny. Jason seemed to be more mature and confident than he had been just four short months earlier. He actually greeted both Miss Hastings and me as we began the next phase of our odyssey.
The image of Red Stevens materialized onto the large screen. He gave Jason his customary congratulatory salute for passing the gift of learning milestone.
Red began in earnest. “Jason, life is full of many contradictions. In fact, the longer you live, the more the reality of life will seem like one great paradox. But if you live long enough and search hard enough, you will find a miraculous order to the confusion.
“All of the lessons I am trying to teach you as a part of the ultimate gift I am leaving you through my will are generally learned as people go through their lives facing struggles and problems. Any challenge that does not defeat us ultimately strengthens us.
“One of the great errors in my life was sheltering so many people—including you—from life’s problems. Out of a misguided sense of concern for your well-being, I actually took away your ability to handle life’s problems by removing them from your environment.
“Unfortunately, human beings cannot live in a vacuum forever. A bird must struggle in order to emerge from the eggshell. A well-meaning person might crack open the egg, releasing the baby bird. This person might walk away feeling as though he has done the bird a wonderful service when, in fact, he has left the bird in a weakened condition and unable to deal with its environment. Instead of helping the bird, the person has, in fact, destroyed it. It is only a matter of time until something in the bird’s environment attacks it, and the bird has no ability to deal with what otherwise would be a manageable problem.
“If we are not allowed to deal with small problems, we will be destroyed by slightly larger ones. When we come to understand this fact, we live our lives not avoiding problems, but welcoming them as challenges that will strengthen us so that we can be victorious in the future.”
Red Stevens paused and stared directly into the camera in a way that let us all know his conviction was borne through a life of experience in dealing with problems.
Red continued. “Jason, I cannot turn back the clock and allow you to deal with each of the problems in the past that I eliminated from your life when I should have given you the opportunity to deal with them yourself. If I could take us both back in time, I would, but now I am left with trying to teach you the value of problems, struggles, and obstacles.
“Since you have not had any experience in this area, you will have to learn quickly. There are problems heading your way that you are not prepared for. During the next thirty days, you will begin the preparation.
“This month, I want you to go out and find people with problems in each stage of life. I want you to find a child, a young adult, a full-grown adult, and an older person—each of whom is experiencing a profound problem. Not only are you to find these four individuals, but you must be able to describe to Mr. Hamilton the benefit or the lesson that is derived from each specific situation.
“When we can learn from our own problems, we begin to deal with life. When we can learn from other people’s problems, we begin to master life.
“I wish you well, and I hope to talk with you again next month.”
Even though the video had ended, Jason continued staring at the blank screen. He rose slowly and walked toward the door. As he opened it, he paused, turned back toward Miss Hastings and me, and said, “I will do my best and call you later.”
Then he closed the door behind him.
Miss Hastings turned to me and said, “The process seems to be beginning to work. I am detecting a shift in his attitude. What do you think?”
“I hope you’re right,” I responded, “because I have a feeling the road gets steeper the farther we go.”
 
Once again I found myself waiting for Jason’s call and hoping he was faring well. I felt the same way I did the first day I sent my son off to kindergarten. With three days left in the month, Jason finally called and set up an appointment with Miss Hastings for the following morning. Miss Hastings told me he had sounded very worried and unsure of himself. All I could do was hope for the best.
The following morning at the appointed hour, Miss Hastings ushered Jason into my office, got him seated, and pulled up a chair for herself. Jason sat silently, and as I looked at him, I had to admit he did seem very quiet and a bit apprehensive.
Finally, I said, “Well, Jason, it’s good to see you again. I assume you have a report on your progress.”
Jason glanced up at me and said, “I think I do.”
He stared down at his hands, which were folded in his lap, and after a long pause, he slowly began. “Well, I knew I had to find people with problems from the four age groups. So I started by looking for a child. After almost two weeks—during which I was unable to find anything—I was so frustrated one afternoon, I just went for a walk in the park.
“I was feeling sorry for myself and considering that after all this work I was going to lose my inheritance and whatever this ultimate gift is that my Uncle Red has for me.
“Finally, I sat at the end of a bench, and I noticed at the other end of the bench there was a young woman watching a little girl playing on the swing. The woman told me she thought the little girl was really amazing, and in my depressed condition, I was not as kind with her as I should have been because I told her that I didn’t see anything amazing about her six- or seven-year-old daughter playing on a swing set.
“She told me, ‘First of all, I’m not her mother, although I wish I were. Second, she’s probably the most amazing person I have ever seen in my life. I am a volunteer at St. Catherine’s Hospital. I work in a program where we try to grant special wishes for terminal patients. Emily has a rare form of cancer. She has been through countless operations and has spent probably half her life in hospitals dealing with great pain. When we told her that we could try to make a special wish of hers come true, she said she would like a fun day in the park. We told her that many kids went to Disney World or ball games or the beach, but she just smiled and said, ‘That’s very nice, but I’d just like to have a fun day in the park.’”
“This woman went on to tell me that Emily had touched everyone in the hospital and had made a real difference in everyone’s life. About that time, Emily stopped swinging and slowly walked across the grass and sat between the two of us on the bench. She turned to me with a smile I’ll never forget and told me that her name was Emily and that this was her special day in the park. She asked me if this was my special day in the park too. I told her that I didn’t think it was, and she laughed and told me that I could share hers with her.
“So, Mr. Hamilton, I spent the rest of the day in the playground with Emily. I realized that she has more courage and joy in her little seven-year-old body than any normal human being could possibly have.
“At the end of the day, she was very tired, and the young lady from the hospital had to take her away in a wheelchair. But, before Emily left, she told me that when she got back to the hospital, she would talk to the nurses and see if they could arrange for me to have a special day in the park too.”
Jason paused and looked directly at me. He had a tear in his eye, and I must admit I was fighting to control my composure as well. Miss Hastings retrieved a box of tissues and said something about her seasonal allergies. We all sat in silence and thought about a young girl whose problem could affect us so profoundly.
Finally, Jason cleared his throat, wiped his eye, and continued. “Later that week, I found a middle-aged man walking down the sidewalk in front of my house. He spotted me getting into my car, so he smiled and walked directly over to me. He stuck out his hand and told me his name was Bill Johnson and that my car was one of the most beautiful cars he had ever seen. He told me that he was in the neighborhood doing odd jobs for people and that it would be a privilege to wash a car like mine.
“I asked him why he was out doing odd jobs, and he told me that through a series of corporate cutbacks, both he and his wife had lost their jobs and that they had three young children at home. Both he and his wife were doing anything they could to make ends meet. Apparently, they had gone through their savings, and they were making it just day to day on what they could pick up doing these jobs. I asked him what would happen if he didn’t get enough money, and he just smiled and told me that there was always enough, and that the problem had created some interesting situations for their family. They were spending more time together than they had before, and their children had learned the value of money and work.

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