You Are Special

If you're going to get a theology lesson from a children's book, you could do much worse than this one.

I remember when my gramma bought this book for Riley.  She signed the inside but didn't put down the year (nuts).  She died in 2005 so I know it was quite a bit before that.  It made the ranks through our children but somehow found a special niche in Natalie's heart.  She carted this book all over the place.  The globe.  It would go in her 'car pack' everytime we went somewhere.  Seriously, all the way to Honduras and back.  I'm shocked it's in a decent shape as it is.  We know it by heart and everytime I hear her reading it or I read it to her, there's another lesson I learn.  Or maybe it's the same one over, and over, and over again.

A good lesson.   

You can imagine my heart stopping a bit when last night as she was snuggling Charlotte and entertaining her while I ate my dinner, Natalie reached for this book to read to her.  First it was Pooh poems but then...oh my...listening to Natalie tell Charlotte this story..it refreshed me again. 

Stickers.  Dots and stars.  People putting them on you based on what they think of you.  What you have.  What you are or aren't.  How it causes you to hide.  Be limited. 

Then the refreshing Lucia and her lack of stars or dots enters the scene.  She shares her secret with the timid Punchinello.  He steps into the woodcarver's shop and it begins. 

It's a gem of a book.  On a quickie go-over it's a sweet story with beautiful drawings and enchanting color.  It's even pretty short, which some nights for a bedtime story you NEED.  Oh...but think.  Listen to it.  Re-read it.  Put yourself into Puchinello's wooden shoes. 

My stickers can be dots or stars based on the day or based on my Facebook status. 

Stars:  Short.  Sweet.  Sassy.  Funny.  Great earrings.  Snarky (okay - this one may be a dot as well). Talent for ripping out kitchens in a single, caffeine fueled bound.  Funny kids.  Sweet baby stuff. 

Dots:  Uber frustrated home schooling parent.  Tween drama.  Teen drama.  Sick of the rain.  Cranky.  Tired.  Whiny.  Money issues.  Post-partum depression.  Down Syndrome.  Special needs. 

But then....

You Are Special.  In great and small ways...special.  In the true sense of the word.  Not some snarky, culturally warped sense, that honestly now either makes me mad or makes me incredibly sad depending on the context and the kind of week we've been having.   

special [ˈspɛʃəl]

adj

1. distinguished, set apart from, or excelling others of its kind

2. (prenominal) designed or reserved for a particular purpose

3. not usual or commonplace

4. (prenominal) particular or primary  ex: his special interest was music

Do you know how much I love it that this book has a lodged place in my Natalie's heart?  She lives, breathes, and now, lets her little sister eat this book.  Her 'special' sister who does have that 'dot' of Down Syndrome.  We know that her special-ness is no less or no more special in God's eyes than that of her siblings, parents, fellow human beings.  Why?  Because she is created in His image, His Likeness...just as we all are.  THAT is the true special.

Would that we would purpose to go the the woodcarver more and that the stickers wouldn't stick as what HE thinks becomes all the more important than what the Wemmicks think. 

Thank you, Max Lucado.  Your reminder is a treasure.