Once upon a time
there was an elderly lady who had a bone china tea set. She had a teapot, a
milk jug, a container for sugar, twelve cups and saucers and side plates for
biscuits and cakes. The individually hand-made items where white in colour with
beautiful red roses hand-painted as decorations and gold plating on the rims of
the cups and plates. Although the set was quite old it was in pristine
condition as if it had just left the factory; now long closed and out of
business.
She loved that tea
set and displayed it proudly in a glass-fronted cupboard in her living room.
She never used it
because it was reserved for very special occasions. You know, just in case the
Pope or the Queen might visit. Which of course they never did; nor were they
likely to ever do. The old lady was very concerned in case an item would break
or be chipped in use and the set would be incomplete and the damaged item
irreplaceable
The tea set remained
in the glass-fronted cupboard, admired by everyone who visited the old lady,
and proudly loved by her whenever she looked at it.
One day the old lady
died and her distant relatives, who never visited her when alive, sold all her
belongings and used the money towards a holiday abroad.
When the old lady
met St Peter at the Gates of Heaven, for that is where she was destined, the
old Saint, who was used to drinking from an old clay cup when on earth,
remarked casually “You never did get to use that lovely tea set, did you?”
“No!” she replied
forlornly, “I saved it for a special occasion which never arrived!”
“Hmmm …” thought the
Saint stroking his beard, “You also never got round to planting aubergines and
courgettes in your garden. You always wanted to do that. But never did!”
“That’s right …”
remembered the old lady, “Somehow I never got round to it. You know how it is …
I was busy cleaning the house and things …”
St Peter chuckled
quietly and added “Buon giorno!”
The old lady looked
up at the tall man in total confusion.
He laughed and said,
“Remember that winter when you promised yourself to learn Italian? You even
bought a book and a dictionary, but never got to enrol at the local college for
evening classes.”
“Yes … that’s right
…” she replied shyly, “I wish I’d done that. Somehow the time was never right
to start those classes. I would have enjoyed them too!”
An ominous silence
followed and she wondered frightfully whether her omissions had somehow
prejudiced her chances of entering Paradise.
“Do come in, my
dear!” said the kindly Saint, “you know …” he added as he scratched his head,
“it grieves me when I look down on earth and see so many people procrastinating
and postponing doing something they set their hearts on.
“I watch and think …
if not now, when?
“Somehow, people
always have a reason for not doing something. When the Big Boss created the
world for us He meant us to enjoy His creations, not postpone them and endure
life!”
As she was led to
her room in Paradise she discovered by her bedside the porcelain
tea-set she once owned, two packets of aubergine and courgette seeds and an
Italian dictionary.
The kindly Saint had
given her a second chance to fulfil her dreams.
