Dylan hadn’t smiled for days. His grandmother, whom he loved dearly, had died, and the ten-year-old was crushed. His friends were worried about him, and convinced him to visit their special friend, an old man they called The Storyteller. The Storyteller loved children, and often helped them with the special stories he would make up. The Storyteller also knew Dylan’s grandmother.
“This is Dylan,” one of the kids said that Monday afternoon. “His grandmother died last week, and he’s very sad.”
The Storyteller looked up from his gardening and sized up the boy. “Sad” was an understatement.
“Looks like she found the Big Surprise,” said the Storyteller, with a twinkle in his eye.
“What’s the Big Surprise?” asked Dylan dejectedly.
“Well, let me tell you about it,” said the old man as he turned to sit on the grass and the kids sat around him. “A long, long time ago, there lived a very wealthy and handsome prince. He was known throughout the realm as a kind and loving man. But he was also very lonely. For years he had searched and waited for that special someone that he could give his whole life to – someone he would be willing to die for, and to live with forever and ever. But for many different reasons, he never found her, until…
“One day, while riding through his kingdom, he spotted her – his bride-to-be. Strangely enough, she was even more lonely than the Prince. He saw a beauty in her that she couldn’t see in herself. And the courtship began between the Prince and the Bride.
“People in those days did weddings very differently than the way we do. Once the groom proposed, and the bride said, ‘Yes,’ a time of waiting always followed. During that time, the groom would go away to prepare the home they were to live in. When everything was ready, he would return to take his bride to their new home. But here was the catch: the bride never knew when her bridegroom would return. Her responsibility was to be ready at any moment, day or night. It was a disgrace to the bride to be caught unprepared when the groom appeared.
“When this particular Prince said good-bye to his Bride, he promised her a very special treasure – one fitting for a child of the King, his father. He playfully called it, ‘The Big Surprise.’
“Breathless with anticipation, she wanted to know everything she could about it. What is it? Where is it? What’s it like? The Prince only smiled and said that she wouldn’t believe him until she saw it for herself. But as he turned to ride away, he promised he would send her some “little surprises” along the way. And he promised his bride once again that he would return for her.
“The Prince was true to his word. He did send those little surprises – expressions of his love, and hints of what the Big Surprise was to be. He told her again that she was the one he had been waiting for. He told her how it moved him to know she was hurting. He told her how much he believed in her, and that he needed her. He encouraged her, and let her know that time and distance hadn’t spoiled his love for her. He promised her a home they could enjoy together, without ever having to say, ‘Good-bye,’ again. Again and again, he found ways to say from a distance how much he loved her, and how much he anticipated sharing their forever-home.
“But the weeks turned into months, and then years. Many years, in fact. And it became harder and harder to keep waiting. Sometimes the Bride gave up entirely. At other times she would get some hint that the Prince still remembered, and that he was still coming. But I’ll be honest, Dylan. Sometimes it scares me. I’m afraid the Prince will return, and the Bride will have given up.”
“You mean the Bride is a real person?” Dylan asked.
“Well, sort of,” said the Storyteller. “The Prince is Jesus, and the Bride is His church. And Dylan, the other day your grandmother got a special message from her Prince. It said, `I’ve finished the Big Surprise! And I can’t wait to show it to you!’”
“Is the Big Surprise like… Heaven?”
“Yep. And one day soon, we won’t have to wait any more. The Prince will call our name, and we’ll all get to enjoy the Big Surprise together.”
“That’ll be awesome!” Dylan said. And for the first time in days, he smiled.