Parable

A little child wanted to give a gift to her father. She sat down with her crayons and a piece of paper and began to draw. She drew a beautiful picture with all of the things she loved most on it – her family, her house, her dog. She included the sun and trees too. When the picture was finished it filled the whole page with many colors and shapes. She was very excited about it as she walked over to him and stood in front of him, and held up her picture.
Now before she made this picture, she had been having a snack, and her face was very messy with chocolate and fruit stains. Her hands had left finger prints and smudges on the paper, and although she wasn’t quite sure how it happened, the paper was no longer nice and flat, but had many creases and crinkles in it. When her father saw her standing there, he smiled and knelt down to look at her. He took out a bandanna from his pocket and gently and carefully wiped all the stains from her face – even the syrup that had gotten into her hair. Then he looked at the picture she was offering him and she smiled again. He was a man who had seen many things, and knew a great deal about life. He himself was a great and renowned artist with his pictures displayed in museums and the homes of immensely wealthy patrons. He took the picture and could see beyond the smudges, creases, crude figures and scribbles, right into her heart. He loved it and told her so. He loved her, and told her so. She walked away feeling that very special joy of one who knows that she is loved completely. As she grew, and continued to speak through the work of her hands, she became in her own right a great artist – a beautiful woman full of grace and power. One day, her father invited her to work with him in his own studio. Even today she continues to create work of surpassing beauty, and she always does her best work for her father.