Sarah came in from school and threw her bag on the couch before slouching down on it herself.
“Oh, hullo Uncle Jeff! I didn’t see you there!”, she said as she saw him sitting there already. “I haven’t seen you for a while!”
“No, I’ve just come back from Australia,” he said as he reached for his cup of tea. “How are things going anyway?”
“Oh, alright I suppose,” she said, “but I sometimes wonder what the point is in it all!”
“What do you mean by that?” Uncle Jeff asked.
“Aw, you know,” she said, “It’s the same old thing every day, and you never seem to get ahead!”
“You know, I think you are missing the point,” Uncle Jeff said, “You know, God has given everyone a purpose while we go through life, and that is to do the very best we can. Even if other people don’t seem to appreciate our efforts, at least later on we won’t have any regrets that we could have done better!”
“You know,” Sarah said, taking a totally different tack, “our Bible Study leader said last week that we are all made in the image of God. How come?”
Uncle Jeff thought for a minute and then said, “Well. it does say that in the Bible, and that is our guide-line for what we believe. It’s like this….we are all made by God’s hand and with some of His attributes. What does the Bible tell us the first things that God did were?”
“Well,” Sarah said thoughtfully, “He made the world and everything that is in it.”
“That’s right,” Uncle Jeff said, “And do you remember what He thought of the things He had made?”
“It says that God saw what He had made and that it was good,” Sarah said.
“What was the last thing God made?” Uncle Jeff went on “What did He say about that?”
Sarah thought for a minute and then said slowly, “It was a man, and it says that when He looked at everything then, it was VERY good!”
“You know,” Uncle Jeff went on, “God had great satisfaction out of all His creating power and looking at the birds, bees and flowers that he had made as well as the animals and then finally the man. Do you remember what God said when he saw that the man had no-one else for company? He said, ‘It’s not good for man to be alone! I’ll make someone else to be his helper!!’ And you know that those are the two things that God has put into the heart and mind of every single human being since that first day….satisfaction in creating things, and the need for a relationship.”
“Ye-e-s, I suppose so, “ Sarah said, “I know I enjoy seeing something I’ve made when it’s finished, and I like to show it to my friends”.
“That’s right,” said Uncle Jeff, “Even doing the simple things like baking a cake, or getting a meal ready gives us satisfaction, and even more so when we can share it with our friends and family.”
“Yes, I see that now,” Sarah said, cheering up somewhat, “I suppose we can say that that is what the point of doing things is!”
“That’s the girl!,” Uncle Jeff said, “ now let’s go outside and you show me those roses that Mum has been growing for the show!”
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