As this year comes to a close, I think of the most important thing we can teach our children.
It is important to constantly remind them that they are special, and are uniquely and wonderfully made.
We tell our son that we love him just about every day, and most days more than once. This has been something we started when he was a baby, and continues to this day now that he is 23 years old. We feel this is one of the most important things we can do as a parent; to constantly remind them that we love them no matter what they do, say, accomplish, or fail at.
Around this time of year, we have a family tradition that helps to remind and reinforce the fact that we all are special, unique, perfectly made and loved by God. Each Christmas morning, before we open the gifts, we read about Christ’s birth from the Bible, and we read You Are Special from Max Lucado.
The You Are Special book is a light hearted story about the Wemmicks, who are wooden people. They give each other stars and dots, depending on whether they do something good, or do something bad. The story focuses on Punchinello, one particular Wemmick who always seems to mess up, and therefore is given lots of dots. He longs to be dot free and to have stars, but he just can’t seem to do it on his own. One day he meets another Wemmick who doesn’t have any stars or dots, and she tells him the secret, and that is to visit the wood carver who made them. He visits the wood carver and finds out what is most important in life.
It is a precious reminder that God loves us just the way we are. He perfectly made us, and it is through spending time daily with God that we begin to see ourselves through his eyes. God loves us even though we make mistakes and have flaws.
I recommend getting the You Are Special book, and making it a tradition to read it to your children.
You made all of the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – how well I know it. (Psalm 139:13-14, NIV)
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:10, NIV)
And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand. (Isaiah 64:8, NIV)
Watch the video version of You Are Special below
To watch the longer video version, click the video below:
