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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