At that time the disciples came up and asked Jesus, "Who then is [really] the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2And He called a little child to Himself and put him in the midst of them, 3and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you repent (change, turn about) and become like little children [trusting, lowly, living forgiving], you can never enter the kingdom of heaven [at all]. 4Whoever will humble himself therefore and become like this little child [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving] is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5And whoever receives and accepts and welcomes one little child like this for My sake and in My name receives and accepts and welcomes Me."
6"But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in and acknowledge and cleave to Me to stumble and sin [that is, who entices him or hinders him in right conduct or thought], it would be better (more expedient and profitable or advantageous) for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be sunk in the depth of the sea. - Matthew 18.1-6
A lesson in "heart" is my little, 10 year
old daughter, Sarah, who was born with a muscle missing
in her
foot and wears a brace all the time.
She came home one beautiful spring day to tell me she had competed in "field day"- that's where they have lots of races and other competitive events. Because of her leg support, my mind raced as I tried to think of encouragement for my Sarah, things I could say to her about not letting this get her down-but before I could get a word out, she said, "Daddy, I won two of the races!" I couldn't believe it! And then Sarah said, "I had an advantage."
Ahh. I knew it. I thought she must have been given a head start... some kind of physical advantage. But again, before I could say anything, she said, "Daddy, I didn't get a head start... My advantage was I had to try harder!"
We often learn the most from our children. Some time ago, a friend of mine punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight, and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the tree.
Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy." He was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found that the box was empty. He yelled at her, "Don't you know that when you give someone a present, there's supposed to be something inside of it?" The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, "Oh, Daddy it's not empty. I blew kisses into the box. All for you, Daddy." The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged her forgiveness.
My friend told me that he kept that gold box by his
bed for years. Whenever he was discouraged, he would take
out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child
who had put it there.
In a very real sense, each of us as parents has been
given a gold container filled with unconditional love and
kisses from our children. There is no more precious
possession anyone could hold.
As I was driving home from work one day, I stopped to
watch a local Little League baseball game that was being
played in a park near my home. As I sat down behind the
bench on the first-baseline, I asked one of the boys what
the score was. "We're behind 14 to nothing," he
answered with a smile. "Really," I said.
"I have to say you don't look very
discouraged." "Discouraged?" the boy asked
with a
puzzled look on his face. "Why should we be
discouraged?
We haven't been up to bat yet."
A man came home from work late again, tired and
irritated, to find his 5 year old son waiting for him at
the door. "Daddy, may I ask you a question?"
"Yeah, sure, what is it?" replied the man.
"Daddy, how much money do you make an hour?"
"That's none of your business! What makes you ask
such a thing?" the man said angrily.
"I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do
you make an hour?" pleaded the little boy.
"If you must know, I make $20.00 an hour."
"Oh," the little boy replied, head bowed.
Looking up, he said, "Daddy, may I borrow $10.00
please?"
The father was furious. "If the only reason you wanted to know how much money I make is just so you can borrow some to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you're being so selfish. I work long, hard hours everyday and don't have time for such childish games."
The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even madder about the little boy's questioning. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money. After an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think he may have been a little hard on his son. Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10.00 and he really didn't ask for money very often. The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door. "Are you asleep son?" he asked.
"No daddy, I'm awake," replied the boy.
"I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you
earlier," said the man. "It's been a long day
and I took my aggravation out on you. Here's that $10.00
you asked for."
The little boy sat straight up, beaming. "Oh, thank you daddy!" he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow, he pulled out some more crumpled up bills. The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again.
The little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at the man. "Why did you want more money if you already had some?" the father grumbled.
"Because I didn't have enough, but now I do," the little boy replied. "Daddy, I have $20.00 now. Can I buy an hour of your time?"
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PS: Share this story with someone you like...but even
better, share $20.00 worth of time with someone you love.
Whenever I'm disappointed with my spot in my life, I stop and think about little Jamie Scott.
Jamie was trying out for a part in a school play. His mother told me that he'd set his heart on being in it, though she feared he would not be chosen. On the day the parts were awarded, I went with her to collect him after school. Jamie rushed up to her, eyes shining with pride and excitement. "Guess what Mom," he shouted, and then said those words that will remain a lesson to me: "I've been chosen to clap and cheer."
Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a
contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of
the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner
was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an
elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon
seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old
gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat
there.
When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."
Usually to parents, their babies are the most beautiful creatures on earth no matter what others might think. Perhaps, the parental love is so strong that it prevents couples to make an objective judgment on their new-born baby's actual beauty. And thank God for that. Heaven forbid when the parents find their own child ugly because that goes beyond the understanding of our most natural motherly or fatherly love.
Well, this is what happened to Mr. and Mrs. Oda in Japan. They found their new-born baby girl so unattractive that they were embarrassed to show her to friends and relatives. They would keep the baby locked inside the house, cursing that stork which brought the ugly kid into their household. Days and months went by, the infant grew up like any normal child would, but still the ugliness that fate so cruelly bestowed remained with it.
On her fourth birthday, the Oda family decided to take the baby for a dingy boat ride at a nearby lake. It was one of those rare occasions that the baby would get to see the outside world, so with obvious delight, she was reaching over the side and stirring the water with her little fingers. What could happen to her? Mommy and Daddy were just inches away, with their usual glum faces, looking over her. She looked at them and smiled, feeling safe, continued playing with water leaning over the side of the dinghy.
Miura-san was enjoying his third Kirin Beer and marveling the sound of the new motor on his little boat. He was glad that there was no one else at the lake except for that couple with a little kid in a dinghy boat far away. He took another swig of the bitter beer and thinking it's about time to head for the shore. Suddenly he heard a scream and cries for help. The couple on the far side of the lake were flailing their arms and shouting "Daskete" (help).
The kid was not on the dinghy. Miura-san rushed over to their location and found out that the child had fallen overboard. The mother was crying and looking into the water from the dinghy while the father was in the water diving in and out. Miura-san also jumped in to help but their effort was of no avail. They could not find the girl in the lake.
The rescue team was summoned and after couple of hours of exhaustive searches the body was found. The ugly Oda girl had drowned to her death.
Few years passed and Mrs. Oda gave birth to another child. And this time the fate was kind to them, for the baby - again a girl - was overwhelmingly beautiful. There was a big celebration and Odas invited all their friends and relatives to come see the new baby.
Indeed, she was their little bundle of joy. Whenever they had a chance, the Odas would take her out in the stroller and all the passers-by would exclaim how beautiful their baby was. Days and months passed, as the little girl grew up as any normal child would and also became more and more beautiful. Mr. and Mrs. Oda were very happy but the distant memory of the dead child remained in their mind.
Perhaps to appease that painful memory, they decided to take a dinghy ride again, for the first time since that incident, at the same lake on their new child's fourth birthday. At first the child was afraid to be on the dinghy, but soon began to enjoy the ride. She reached over the side and began playfully stirring the water with her little fingers. After all what could happen to her? Both Daddy and Mommy were just inches away from her. She looked up at their cheerful faces and gave them a big smile. They smiled in return and told her to be careful. The child went back to her amusement, leaning on the side of the dinghy to play with the water.
Then suddenly she turned around and almost nonchalantly said, "Mom, Dad, please do not push me into the lake, again."
When an ice cream sundae cost much less, a boy entered
a coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass
of water in front of him.
"How much is an ice cream sundae?"
"Fifty cents," replied the waitress. The little
boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied a
number of coins in it.
"How much is a dish of plain ice cream?" he
inquired. Some people were now waiting for a table, and
the waitress was impatient.
"Thirty-five cents," she said angrily. The
little boy again counted the coins.
"I'll have the plain ice cream." The waitress
brought the ice cream and walked away. The boy finished,
paid the cashier, and departed.
When the waitress came back, she swallowed hard at what she saw. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies - her tip.
Teacher Debbie Moon's first graders were discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture had a different color hair than the other family members.
One child suggested that he was adopted and a little
girl named Jocelynn Jay said, "I know all about
adoptions because I was adopted."
"What does it mean to be adopted?" asked
another child.
"It means," said Jocelynn, "that you grew
in your mommy's heart instead of her tummy."
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