LITMIR.BIZ

      The old women of the neighborhood were gathered around a young Japanese mother just after she had given birth to a sweet baby girl. The old midwife was already busy giving the baby its first bath, and the young father had rushed out to tell his friends the news, not having noticed the baby’s deformities. Anyone could plainly see that there was something wrong with the baby’s crooked little back. The misshapen, skinny legs looked as if they would never be able to carry the little girl around.

      In spite of her crippled legs, the baby was named “Sparkle,” and through the years she proved to be the joy of her parents’ lives. Her shiny brown eyes danced happily as she crawled around the house dragging her weak legs, and nothing seemed to trouble her brave little heart.

      Sparkle lived in a town in western Japan where there is lots of snow. Women there wear heavy, blanket-like shawls with long fringes. These make the women look like Indian squaws. When Sparkle was small, her mother tied her to her back and put a heavy shawl over the two of them. Sparkle always loved to go out in the snow, so snug under her mother’s shawl.

      Then one day a sad thing happened. Sparkle’s father died, and there was no one to make money for them to live on. Now Sparkle’s mother had to work hard to be able to buy their rice and fish and to pay for the charcoal for the blue, pottery, pot-like stove that kept their house warm. While her mother was away working, Sparkle had to stay at home by herself.

      “What’s that? Listen ... I’ve never heard that before.”

      For the first time Sparkle heard someone singing hymns in the street. From her room she listened as she heard a voice telling about Someone who was the “Light of the World.” She decided that she wanted to hear more about it, so that very night she limped to the nearby meeting hall. At that meeting she gave her heart to the living God and asked Him to guide her for the rest of her life. That summer Sparkle was baptized in the blue, blue Japan Sea.

      Sparkle still can’t walk very well. Because she couldn’t go to a doctor when she was little, one leg is a lot shorter than the other, and when she walks, she hobbles back and forth. Her legs are lame, but just as her name says, she has a light in her heart that shines out to others in the darkness around her.

      Rice and goma seeds . . . Yumm!!

      My swimming pool

      Little Heathen Child

      Little slant eye so sparkling and bright

      Why do you look at idols so mean?

      Why do you worship at their feet?

      What do you think those stone eyes have seen?

      Little pink cheek so soft and pure,

      Do you know God loves you, dear?

      Do you know He died to save?

      Won’t you trust His Grace so near?

      Little white hand so open and free,

      Will you forever clap to pray?

      Will those hands rub cold images bare?

      Won’t you know God hears your prayer?

      Little heathen heart in far Japan

      For whom no song holds meaning deep

      For whom we all forget to pray

      May you know, little one, His love today.

      Congratulations, Little Miss

      Seven-Five-Three Festival

      For over four hundred years all Japanese children who are three, five, or seven years old have been going to the shrine on November 15th to express their gratitude to the gods.

      Little girls receive colorful, new, silk kimonos and wear high, fancy wooden shoes. They have tinkling bells fastened to the heels of their shoes and to the big butterflylike ribbons in their hair.

      Boys wear black or dark-colored outfits that have full, pleated skirts that reach to the ankle. Both boys and girls wear pure white stockings that have the big toe separated for the thong that keeps their wooden sandals on.

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