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 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 begged for forgiveness. My
friend told me that he kept that old 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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