You Are Special
Have you read Max Lucado’s children’s book ‘You Are Special’? It’s an incredibly insightful book for children and adults alike. Here’s an abbreviated version:
The Wemmicks were small wooden people. They were carved by a woodworker named Eli who lived on a hill.
All day the Wemmicks did the same thing: They gave each other stickers.
The pretty ones, the talented ones, those who knew big words and could sing pretty songs, always got stars. Some had stars all over them! It made them want to do something else and get another star.
Others got dots. Punchinello was one of these. He tried to jump high like the others, but he always fell. So people would give him dots. Sometimes when he fell, his wood got scratched, so the people would give him more dots.
After a while he had so many dots he didn’t want to go outside.
One day he met a Wemmick who had no dots or stars. She was just wooden. Her name was Lucia.
People would try to give her a star but it would fall off. Others would give her a dot; but it wouldn’t stay either. That’s the way I want to be, thought Punchinello. So he asked the stickerless Wemmick how she did it.
“It’s easy, Every day I go see Eli, the woodcarver. I sit in the workshop with him.”
“Why?” asked Punchinello
“Why don’t you find out for yourself?” And with that she skipped away.
Punchinello wasn’t sure Eli would want to see him but he walked up the narrow path to the top of the hill. Inside the workshop everything was so large.
“I’m not staying here!” Punchinello thought as he turned to leave.
Then he heard his name.
“Punchinello? How good to see you. Come and let me have a look at you.”
Punchinello turned slowly. “You know my name?”
“Of course I do. I made you.”
Eli picked him up and looked at the grey dots. “Looks like you’ve been given some bad marks.”
“I didn’t mean to, Eli. I really tried hard.”
“Oh, you don’t have to defend yourself to me, child. I don’t care what the other Wemmicks think. I think you are special.”
Punchinello laughed. “Me, special? I can’t jump, my paint is peeling, why do I matter to you?”
Eli looked at Punchinello. “Because you’re mine. That’s why you matter to me. The stickers only stick if they matter to you. The more you trust my love, the less you care about their stickers.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” said Punchinello.
Eli smiled. “You will, but it will take time. For now, just come to see me everyday and let me remind you how much I care.”
As Punchinello left, Eli said, “Remember, you are special because I made you. And I don’t make mistakes.”
Punchinello thought, I think he really means it.
And when he did, a dot fell to the ground.
We are still so dependant on what people think of us. But God just sees through all of the stars and the dots in our lives.
Never forget that You Are Special and God wants you to live in His acceptance and not strive for love from a world that’s so transient and fickle.
Lord, thank You for loving and accepting me like no other. May I live in that acceptance every day. Amen.
How much time are you putting into receiving stars or dodging dots?
This article was written by Linda Bailey
Linda started theological studies in 1999 in Australia. After working for ten years in various church ministries, she now works as the breakfast producer at 89.9 LightFM - the Christian radio station in Melbourne, Australia. She writes blogs every day about passages she is currently reading in the Bible. Follow her on Google Plus +Linda Bailey or Facebook by clicking the like button on the right of this page.