A little girl called Karen was having a wander down by the seashore. As she paddled in the pools among the rocks she suddenly stopped and gasped, “Oh, what lovely stones.” How excited she was as she put her hand into the water and grasped a handful of these pebbles, and without waiting to put on her sandals again she ran off up to her house.
“Mummy, mummy,” Karen called; “Come and see my lovely stones.” Her mummy, who was in the kitchen at the time, came out into the hall and said, “Well, Karen, what's this you have today?“ (You see, Karen was always bringing her exciting “finds” into the house.) So Karen opened her hand; but what a shock she got, boys and girls, for all that she saw there was a handful of dull, dry stones, just like those on the gravel path outside the house.
What a disappointment for Karen! However, her mother took her by the hand back down to the seashore again, and as they looked into one of the pools, there, glinting up at them were dozens of lovely bright, coloured pebbles – reds and blues, greens and mixtures of colours, as well. Karen dived her hand into the pool and closed it around a lovely red one. When she had drawn her hand out of the water, her mother said, “Now, show me your red pebble.” But, when Karen opened her hand her stone was no longer glinting, but grey and dull. “Put it back into the water,” said her mummy, and as she did, the stone began to sparkle and shine again.
Karen's mummy then said, “Sit down Karen, and I'll tell you a little lesson you can learn from the pebbles.” As they both sat by the seashore Karen's mummy said to her, “You know, Karen, without God, we are like those pebbles when you took them out of the water. The Bible says that we are to 'abide in Him' – that means, we are to live God's way from day to day. And when we do that, then we are like those pebbles while they are in the water and our lives are different, because we love the Lord and we know that He loves us.”
Is this not true, boys and girls?
Love,
Mrs Seaton.
