Cookies story

~Bismillah~

It all started with a saying from a student to his teacher. 

"Wow! Famous Amos! I love Famous Amos cookies, teacher?" he said.

"Oh, really?" The teacher tried to confirm.

"Aha. The one that I like the most is the Famous Amos cookie which size is bigger than this one. That's my favorite!"

"Oh, okay. Next time, I'll get one for you," said she.

"Yeay!" 

And he was so excited about it, even though he might not know when he would get it. But the teacher actually kept that within herself. 'I'll surely buy one for him because I know, by giving something which is to the liking of a kid will definitely make him/her happy and he/she will surely appreciate and remember it forever in his/her life,' monologued she.

Many days passed, until one day before the student's birthday, he said to his teacher.

"Teacher, tomorrow is my birthday!" He sounded so excited while telling his teacher this.

"Oh, really? Hmm... so, what do you want me to do?" winking her eye at him.

The student just smiled. At first, the teacher thought that he might not be expecting anything. But deep down inside, he actually did. So, she just ignored it.

In the afternoon, the teacher went to AEON Wangsa Maju, to get something for her student as his birthday gift. Since she had no enough money to buy expensive gift, so she went to the Famous Amos stall and just purchased one big cookie and a small pack of Tobleronce chocolate.

She said to her friend, who accompanied her there.

"He once told me that he loves this cookie so much. Maybe I could buy this one as his birthday gift, since I haven't enough money to buy him expensive one."

The friend just grinned. The teacher prayed may her student love the gift. It might seem to be too cheap for him, but all she knew is that she had filled the gift with all her love to her student. May Allah bless the gift together with the one who would be receiving it.

So, the next day, she went to school as usual but this time with a smile on her face. She brought the gifts that she bought the day before to school to her heart content. In the hope that,'May he like it.'

On the student's birthday, right after the Art and Craft class finished, it was time for the teacher's lesson. English lesson. After she had given her salam, all the students were seated and got ready with their English lesson, except one person. The boy.

"Teacher, I lost my red colour pencils. Just now, somebody borrowed it from me but he didn't returned them."

The teacher asked the class, "Okay, class. Who could have taken his red colour pencils? Please return them to him now."

 "No one took it, teacher!" One of the boys said.

The teacher looked back to the student who had lost the colour pencils and said, "I think maybe you had left them at home and you had forgotten all about them."

"No, just now they were here!" And he started crying.

30 minutes passed. While the students were busy doing the exercise given by the teacher, the crying boy hid himself behind the pillar at the back of the class. He continued to cry.

The teacher walked to him and tried to calm himself down.

"Don't worry. You'll find the colour pencils again. Sometimes, if we lost something, we don't have to look for it, but it will come to us. Trust me."

The boy just couldn't stop crying. 

The teacher immediately grabbed his head and leaned it on her chest. 

She put her arms around his body and touched his head so gently.

She was still trying her best to calm the boy down. Suddenly, she could feel his tears falling down on her arm. 

"You know what boy, I got something for you. As your birthday gift. Ha... if you want it, you must stop crying. It's not good for you. Plus, you're a boy. You're supposed to be strong. Now, up. Go and wash your face now."

So, the boy just followed his teacher's instruction.

Then, later, he came back to the class and started learning again. Whereas the teacher said to the class,"Okay class. Listen to me. This is a very important lesson for you. When we lost something which is precious to us, sometimes we do not have to find it whereas it will come to us again."

Then a girl said, "But it will take longer time for us to wait, teacher!"

"Of course! That's how Allah teaches us about patience and that's how Allah tests our patience actually, don't you think so?"

All together said, "Yes!"

"Very good," the teacher replied.

A few minutes later, the boy came to his teacher and asked, "Teacher, where is my present?"

The teacher just smiled.

In the evening, when a half of the class had gone back home and some stayed, the teacher suddenly said.

"Okay. The rest of you who are still here, can we sing a song together to one of our friends here whose birthday is today? One, two three."

So they sang the birthday song out loud. The birthday boy just grinned while erasing the whiteboard.

They took some pictures together. 

The teacher could see his face was shining and gleaming out of happiness.

She then took out the birthday present to be given to the boy and said,

"Hmm... this is not much. I just got a simple present for you but trust me, you're gonna love it. So, happy birthday to you, dear."

The boy just smiled so sweetly at his teacher and said, "Thank you."

'Alhamdulillah...' the teacher felt so relieved to see her student smiled again.

After came back from school, the teacher grabbed her phone and check her inbox. There was a message from the boy's mother, saying,

Jazakillah, teacher. He said, "She's right. It does make me happy."

The teacher was surprised reading the message. Then, she replied, 

What else did he say to you, puan?

The mother replied back,

Around 5 pm, he called me at the office to tell me, "Mommy, I got Famous Amos cookies from teacher." When I fetched him at school, he told me again and when I asked why, "It's for my birthday" and said, "Teacher told me I will be happy with it" and further said, "She's right! I am happy with it!"

The teacher was so glad to know that her student was happy with the present although it was cheap.

She then apologised for the cheap present to the mother and told her the truth.

Actually puan, I had no enough money to buy an expensive gift for your son. I'm so sorry for that. But before this, he used to tell me that he really loves that cookie. So, with all the money I had left in my purse, I bought one cookie and a small pack of chocolate for him, hoping that he's gonna like it. This teacher of him is not from a wealthy family. All she could afford is to buy something that could make her students happy and smile. 

Then, the mother replied humbly.

Your are very thoughtful and sensitive towards children's characters. Appreciate a good teacher like you. May Allah shower you with barakah and protect you always.

The teacher almost cried to her heart content. She felt touched by the incident as well as the message from the mother. 

To her, what's more important is not just her students' achievements in academics but their happiness.

She hopes as long as she is there, she could draw smiles on as many faces of her students as possible

and she prays may Allah guide her. 

:')