Yes, Little One, YOU Are Special!

Max Lucado wrote a children’s book called, “You Are Special”. It is the story of a community of wooden people called Wemmicks. Wemmicks spend their days giving each other stickers based on their works. If someone does something good, they get a star sticker.  Do something bad, it’s a dot sticker for you. These stickers stay on you forever so that everyone can see just what kind of Wemmick you are.

One Wemmick, named Puchinello, is covered in dot stickers. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot do anything right. He has so many “bad” dot stickers that he is embarrassed and doesn’t want to go outside his house anymore at all. Poor Puchinello is convinced that he is an utter failure and will never do anything right.

One day Puchinello hears about Eli, the woodcarver, who made all the Wemmicks, and decides to pay him a visit. He wants to know why Eli created him to be so bad.  While visiting Eli, Puchinello learns that Eli doesn’t make any mistakes. He learns that he is loved. All Puchinello needs to do is believe in Eli’s love and care more about what Eli thinks than about what other Wemmicks think. Puchinello basks in Eli’s love and takes on the identity that Eli originally created for him. As he leaves Eli’s house, a funny thing happens. Dots begin to fall off. When Puchinello believes in Eli’s love more than he cares about what others think, the Wemmick’s stickers no longer stick to him!

For our children, the labels the world puts on them are hard to ignore. When people say good things about them, children feel lifted up and excited. But what happens when someone says something negative about them, criticizes them, or tells them they’re not good enough? That hurts! Our children begin to question their self-worth. Are they good enough? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we lived in a place where no negative things were ever said? But that is not our world, so how can we protect our children?

We need to point our kiddos to the amazing God who created them. Just like Puchinello went to Eli, let’s take our children to God. He loves them so much that He sent his Son Jesus to die for them so they can have eternal life with Him. Just like Eli, God doesn’t make mistakes. God made each of us with purpose and beauty. He wants each person to look to Him for their identity and self-worth, not to others. Take your child to the King of Kings. Introduce them to the ONE who created them and loves them unconditionally. Will it still hurt if someone throws a “dot” at them? Sure. But with Jesus they can choose to believe the truth – that God created them, and they are His beloved child.