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."
~~~~~~
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 said, "I know all about adoptions because I was adopted."
"What does it mean to be adopted?" asked another child. "It
means," said the girl, "that you grew in your mommy's heart
instead of her tummy."
~~~~~~
A four year old was at the pediatrician for a check up. As the doctor
looked into her ears with an otoscope, he asked, "Do you think I'll
find Big Bird in here?" The little girl stayed silent. Next, the doctor
took a tongue depressor and looked down her throat. He asked, "Do you
think I'll find the Cookie Monster down there?" Again, the little girl
was silent.
Then the doctor put a stethoscope to her chest. As he
listened to her heart beat, he asked, "Do you think I'll hear Barney in
there?" "Oh, no!" the little girl replied. "Jesus
is in my heart. Barney's on my underpants."
~~~~~~
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-base line, 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."
~~~~~~
Whenever I'm disappointed with my spot in 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."
~~~~~~
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."
Ah. 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!"
~~~~~~
An Eye Witness Account from New York City, on a cold day in December:
A little boy about 10 years old was standing before a shoe store on the
roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold. A
lady approached the boy and said, "My little fellow, why are you
looking so earnestly in that window?" "I was asking God to give me
a pair of shoes," was the boy's reply.
The lady took him by the
hand and went into the store and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs
of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water
and a towel. He quickly brought them to her. She took the little fellow to
the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his
little feet, and dried them with a towel. By this time the clerk had
returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy's feet, she purchased
him a pair of shoes. She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave
them to him. She patted him on the head and said, "No doubt, my little
fellow, you feel more comfortable now?"
As she turned to go, the
astonished lad caught her by the hand, and looking up in her face, with
tears in his eyes, answered the question with these words: "Are
you God's Wife?"
