F A M I L Y
I ran into a stranger as
he passed by,
"Oh excuse me please" was my reply.
He said, "Please excuse me too;
I wasn’t watching for you."
We were
very polite, this stranger and I.
We went
on our way and we said goodbye.
But at
home a different story is told,
How we treat our
loved ones, young and old.
Later that
day, cooking the evening meal,
My
son stood beside me very still.
When I
turned, I nearly knocked him down.
"Move out
of the way," I said with a frown.
He walked
away, his little heart broken.
I didn’t realize
how harshly I’d spoken.
While I lay awake in bed,
God’s still small
voice came to me and said,
"While dealing with a stranger,
common courtesy you use,
but the family
you love, you seem to abuse.
Go and look on the kitchen floor,
You’ll find some
flowers there by the door.
Those are
the flowers he brought for you.
He picked them himself:
pink, yellow and blue.
He stood very quietly
not to spoil the surprise,
you never saw the tears that
filled his little eyes."
By this time, I felt very small,
And now my tears began to fall.
I
quietly went and knelt by his bed;
"Wake up, little one, wake up," I said.
"Are these
the flowers you picked for me?"
He smiled,
"I found ‘em, out by the tree.
I picked ‘em
because they’re pretty like you.
I knew you’d like
‘em, especially the blue."
I said, "Son, I’m very sorry for
the way I acted today;
I
shouldn’t have yelled at you that way."
He said, "Oh, Mom, that’s okay.
I love you anyway."
I said, "Son, I love you too,
and I do like the flowers,
especially the blue."
Are you aware that if we died
tomorrow, the company
that we are working for could
easily replace us in
a matter of days.
But the family we left behind
will feel the loss
for the rest of their lives.
And come to think of
it, we pour ourselves more
into work than into our own family,
an unwise investment indeed,
don’t you think?
So what is behind the story?
Do you
know what the word FAMILY means?
FAMILY = (F)ATHER (A)ND
(M)OTHER (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU
