The atmosphere in front of the circus tent was electrifying......
The teenager "x" and her father waited patiently to enter the tent.
In front of them stood a man and his wife, holding hands, with their eight children – all of them younger than twelve.
Although the children were well-behaved and wore clean clothes, it was obvious that this family did not have a lot of money.
On their faces you could see that they were all very excited to be there.
Every now and again one of the children would start giggling from excitement as they spoke to each other about the clowns, elephants, lions and acrobats they were about to see.
You could tell that for the past few weeks this was the topic of discussion at home.
Eventually the family was in front of the row and it was time for the dad to buy the tickets.
Proudly the father pulled his family closer and with a smile he looked at the ticket vendor saying: “Eight children and two adults please.”
The ticket seller took his time, calculated the total and in a loud voice informed the father what the amount was.
The father’s smile vanished and nervously he leaned towards the ticket booth: “Excuse me, how much did you say?”
It was obvious that the man didn’t expect the amount to be so high...................
He looked at the money in his hand – clearly it was not enough for all of them.
All they could do was turn around and head back home........
Then "x" saw her father reaching into his pocket before dropping a R100 note on the ground.
He nonchalantly picked it up and gave it to the man: “Excuse me sir, I think you dropped this money.”
The man, knowing exactly what "x"’s father did, took a moment to look into his eyes, shook his hand, quickly wiped his tears away with the back of his palm and replied: “Thank you, sir.
Thank you very much.
You will never know how much I appreciate this.”
After the cheerful family walked through the gates "x" and her father turned around and walked back to their own 'old' car.
They didn’t have enough money to go to the circus that night, but it didn’t bother them........
Eight children were extremely happy.
This was a night both families would never forget.
Do you realize that God also puts opportunities in our daily lives where we, just like "x"’s father, can choose to grab hold of the opportunity to change a life or we can ignore it.
Do you realize that every child that is born (whether it is the child of a king or a prostitute) is a gift from God?
Solomon, the wisest man ever to live, understood this. Listen to his words in Psalm 127:3:
“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.”
Solomon emphasized that we should never accept our own children or the children around us as a given.! Every child is a gift from God’s hand – worthy to be thankful for......
Can I ask you: how will you react the next time you see a 'similar' situation begging for your intervention......? Do you realize that also he or she is a “Gift from God”?
Father God, thank you that I can know that every child is a gift from your hand......
Thank you that I can ask You to give me the wisdom to know how to treat and teach my own and other children, in order to honour your Name.
I pray this in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Amen !
Shalom ....
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