| Butterfly
Kisses
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.
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