You Are Special

by Marissa Writes - Tuesday, January 29, 2013

I didn't need to read the parenting books to know that one of my main jobs as a mom is to make sure my children know they are special because that feeling allows for a feeling of belonging. I think it is fair to say that when we feel like we belong, we don't go searching for acceptance in other places - many of those places being the wrong places.

With this in mind, I have enjoyed reading Max Lucado's You Are Special to my little guys. This book is part of Lucado's The Wemmicks - are you familiar?

Well the Wemmicks are wooden people who spend their days putting dots and starts on other Wemmicks - as you can guess, the stars are for impressive and beautiful Wemmicks, while dots are to show disappointments or ugly Wemmicks. (Sound familiar at all?)

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Punchinello is one of the Wemmicks who isn't really great at anything spectacular, and his paint is chipped and he's not very coordinated. Which means he gets lots and lots of dots from other Wemmicks. He starts to feel alone, and sad all the time.

Then one day he finds a Wemmick with no dots or stars... and he wants to know how she keeps the dots and stars from sticking to her. He finds out that she spends time with Eli, the woodcarver.

So Punchinello finds his way to see Eli for the first time - although he is scared at first Eli quickly reassures Punchinello that the dots don't mean anything to him. You see Eli created Punchinello, and therefore, Punchinello is special to him, as his own creation.

Eli tells Punchinello that if they spend time together, Eli will continue to remind him who he is, and in time the dots and stars won't stick anymore.

This story is just wonderful as a way to illustrate to kids why they are special to God. He created them, and everything He creates is special. The reminder that the more time we spend listening to God's promises, the less the hurtful words of the world will resonate with us. As these two points are still something I am working on, I hope that this story will allow me to discuss God's love for my kids more clearly while they are young.

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Have you read any of the Wemmick stories to your kids? What did you think? How do you open up discussions with your kids about their place in God's kingdom? In your home?