The
story goes that some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for
wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated
when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.
Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning
and said, “This is for you, Daddy.”The man was embarrassed by his earlier
overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found out the box was empty.
He yelled at her, stating, “Don’t you know, when you give someone a present,
there is supposed to be something inside? The little girl looked up at him with
tears in her eyes and cried, “Oh, Daddy, it’s not empty at all. I blew kisses
into the box. They’re all for you, Daddy.”The father was crushed. He put his
arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.Only a short
time later, an accident took the life of the child. It is also told that her
father kept that gold box by his bed for many years and, whenever he was
discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the
child who had put it there.In a very real sense, each one of us, as humans
beings have been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and
kisses… from our children, family members, friends, and God. There is simply no
other possession, anyone could hold, more precious than this.
