Kids & Parenting

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The Wonders Of God’s Gifts
© 2007

by

Stephen A. Peterson


While waiting for a plane at Will Rogers World Airport to take them to their destination, a young boy was given a dollar in coins to buy whatever he wished. It was without little doubt that this 5 or 6 year old had his eye on the large; oddly shape vending machine that dominated the airport waiting room area. Inside there was a plethora of trinkets designed to entice and fascinate the young mind into making a purchase in hopes of receiving what is desired.

Going up to the machine, the boy stood for about a minute studying its contents before he put his coin in. in a matter of moments, an odd shape, not an exactly round shaped object made its way down the machine. Slowly he took it to his father.

“Look dad at what I got! What is this thing? Dad, this is not what I want! I really wanted one of the rubber balls.”

“Son you can’t tell what you’re going to get when there are so many different things in one of those vending machines. You are going to have to take what the machine gives you unless you spend all of your money on trying to get one thing. Even then you’re not certain you’ll get what you really want. What you ended up getting is a compass.”

“But dad, I don’t want a compass,” he responded. “I wanted a ball…”

“With a ball, you are likely to lose it. You toss it in this airport and its likely to go somewhere you can’t go or you can’t play with it because you’re on a plane. But a compass is a great thing! It’s real! It really works. See this silver dial tells you directions. Look at this. On a compass, the dial always points north so you know which direction is north. Knowing where north is you will be able to know which direction is south and tell where east and west is also. If you get lost it can help you find your way back home. In my opinion, son, you really got a pretty good thing. I’ll bet this compass is the best, most valuable thing you could have gotten from that machine. When you become a Cub Scout in about a year or so, I’ll bet you can probably use this on one of your hikes or orienteering class.

Delighted, he walked about the sitting area testing his new compass watching the deal swing north. The ball was all but forgotten.

Often humankind put time, talent, treasure, faith, hopes and prayers into things expecting satisfaction. When we do not get what we want, we often may cry foul, reject God’s graces, or reject God altogether as incompetent or does not care about our welfare. But in time—perhaps in a few years maybe sooner—we come to find that the gift God gave us is the one we wanted and needed all along. We just didn’t know it at the time it was given us.

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