FEBRUARY 15, Matthew 10:8

“Look what Grandma gave me, Mom!” Cheri held out an oval-shaped box with glittering, green stones outlining the lid. “I’m going to keep my special stuff in it and I don’t want anybody to touch it!” she said with a scowl.

Cheri took the box to her room and placed it on her dresser. Before long, she had quite a number of things in it.

One afternoon, Cheri’s neighbor, Sasha, came over to play. But whenever Sasha picked up one of Cheri’s toys or books, Cheri insisted that she wanted it herself. “How pretty!” exclaimed Sasha when she noticed the box on Cheri’s dresser. “What do you keep in here?” She lifted the lid.

“Leave that alone,” Cheri snapped at her. “That’s mine!” “Yuck!” exclaimed Sasha, looking at the contents of the box. “You can have it! And I’m going home.” Angrily, she left the room.

Cheri grabbed the box. “Oh, no!” she groaned as she looked into it. She ran to show her mother. “The rose petals I saved are dried up,” said Cheri tearfully. “Worst of all, my birthday cake is all mouldy!”

“Oh, honey, I didn’t know you put that slice of cake in there,” said Mom. “Dump it out, and then let’s see what we need to do to clean the box.” Cheri got the wastebasket, and they began to sort through the things she had saved. “You need to be careful about what you put into this box, Cheri,” said Mom, “but it’s even more important to be careful about what you put into your heart box!”

“I don’t have a heart-shaped box,” said Cheri.

“I’m referring to your inner being - we call it your heart,” replied Mom. “Are you filling it with selfishness, honey? You refused to give anything when your brother was collecting money for a needy family, remember? You wouldn’t let your sister borrow a blouse yesterday. And when Sasha left here a little while ago, she didn’t look very happy. I wondered why.”

Thought: Why did Sasha leave unhappy? Are you sometimes like Cheri?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, instead of keeping everything for myself, help me to share my blessings. Help me to give a portion of my for Your work or to help those who are needy. In Jesus’ name I ask – amen.