JUNE 26, Proverbs 7:2

Sarah shut her eyes and ducked quickly when she saw the pencil flying through the air toward her. When she heard it bounce off her desk onto the floor, she sat up and glared at Bill, who was grinning. “That almost hit me in the eye.” Sarah said crossly.

“Bill… Sarah… what’s going on here?” Mrs. Neo asked as she walked up to their desks. “Bill threw a pencil and almost hit me in the eye!” said Sarah. “She needed a pencil, and I was just tossing one to her,” said Bill quickly. “I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

“Did, too,” accused Sarah. “Did not,” insisted Bill.

“Bill,” said Mrs. Neo sternly, “you need to be more careful. You could have hurt Sarah even though you didn’t mean to.” Bill nodded, still pouting. “Sarah, can you see that Bill didn’t intend to hurt you?” asked Mrs. Neo. Sarah glanced at Bill and nodded.

Mrs. Neo looked thoughtful. “I think this may be a good time for a lesson on eyes,” she said. “Class, take out your health books.”

At home that evening, Sarah told her parents about the lesson. “We learned that we have a built-in instinct that tells us to shut our eyelids and move when something comes toward our faces,” she reported. “That’s because our eyes are sensitive and easily damaged. If we didn’t do that, some people might even be blind today.”

Mom nodded. “We all try to take good care of our eyes because they’re important to us,” she said. “Did you know that God sometimes refers to His people as the ‘apple of His eye’?” asked Dad.

“That’s a funny expression,” said Sarah. “What does that mean?”

Dad smiled. “The ‘apple of your eye’ refers to something you consider very precious,” he said, “so it means that God’s people are precious and important to Him. The Bible also says we should guard His teachings as the ‘apple of our eye.’ We should consider God’s Word to be precious and important. If it’s important to us, we’ll use it and obey it.”

Thought: How do you treat God’s Word? Is it important to you? Do you use it daily?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, teach me that Your promises and teachings will become more precious as I read and obey Your Word more and more. This I pray in Jesus’ name – amen.