Punchinello: You Are Special

As Summer came to a close and I transitioned back into school, I never thought that it was going to be hard. I did transition fast back into school (only having a day at my new house), but I didn't think I was going to have a hard time.

My heart still struggles with a lot of things. Such as letting go of stuff and moving forward. But God is good and He's proven His faithfulness to me (not that He needs to be proved of anything of course). Its funny cause coming back to school, I have realized what I need to work on in my heart (I know...sappy gross ew). I mean, we grow everyday, but I think its a huge step to recognize the ish in one's life. I think the biggest step of growth one can make is giving that ish to God. I think that when we give that up to Him, that's a huge step.

Camp has taught me a lot, but one of the big lessons I got was from a simple children's book called, "You Are Special" by Max Lucado. I would read this to my 1st and 2nd graders all the time. I loved it! Its a story about a Wemmick (a wooden puppet) named Punchinello. For those of you who don't know the story, the Wemmicks give stars to those they like, those who are beautiful, those who are talented or whatever. But the rest they give grey dots too. Those who had a lot of grey dots were shunned, made fun of or hated. Punchinello was one of these, but then he meets another puppet whose grey dots and stars just fall off. They don't stick to her. She tells Punchinello to go visit Eli the woodcarver. Eli turns out to be his Creator and Eli tells Punchinello that her stickers don't stick because she understands that it doesn't matter what the other Wemmicks think because they are just Wemmicks created by Eli. It only matters what Eli thinks of her because she is exactly how Eli made her. She understands that she is loved by her creator. Eli doesn't make mistakes.

Its funny how children's books can speak to you. Eli tells Punchinello to visit and spend time with him everyday. Eventually, the grey dots will fall off too. I've been thinking a lot about that lately. I am a people pleaser. Sometimes I do care what people think of me, but I think I am still my harshest critic. The negative self talk can be haunting and heavy. But this little story that I dove into all summer constantly reminds me to spend time with MY Creator. If I spend time with my Creator, I will begin to see more and more each day how much He loves me and who He has created me to be.

Eventually, my grey dots will fall off too. :]