She was busy making homemade bread when a blood-curdling scream startled her. She stumbled as she hurried outside to where the children had been happily playing moments before. There she saw a sight that took her breath away.

Surrounded by a throng of friends, her son lay on the ground, his hand impaled upon a rusty nail attached to a rotting piece of wood. His blood was pouring forth from the wound and forming a puddle on the ground.

“Go, children, and bring my husband”, the mother said calmly, trying not to frighten her son or his friends.

After the nail had been removed and the child settled into bed, the impact of what had happened overwhelmed her. A chill ran quickly up her spine, and she suddenly became quite pale.

Her husband tried to console her, but the uneasy feeling would not go away. Long after he had retired for the evening, she held a nightlong vigil beside the bed of her son praying, “Heavenly Father, please help! I cannot understand the strange feeling that has engulfed me.”

After she was sure that the boy was sound asleep, she quietly wept the night away. “I cannot leave his side”, she thought. I feel as though I have had a glimpse of impending doom.” In the distance she heard a dove’s lamenting sigh.

Come dawn, her husband hurried to find her. There she lay beside the bed of her son, her eyes dark with pain. He had never seen her behave in such a manner before. He softly laid his hand upon her shoulder and said, “Mary, the boy will be fine. What causes you so much distress?” She looked up at him as though she bore the weight of the world upon her shoulders. She then quietly murmured, “Joseph, I’m afraid for Jesus.”

Copyright © 2006 Barbara Cagle Ray