The little boy stood looking a bit bewildered in a large and busy railway station. He was clutching a box full of jig-saw pieces to his chest, when he suddenly knocked off his feet by a man in a great hurry rushing to catch his train. The box flew out of his hands, and bits went everywhere over the floor of the station. The boy nearly burst into tears, but bent down and began to look for all his pieces.

The man who had knocked into him was an important business man who was in a great hurry to catch his train. He had had a busy day at his office, and all he wanted to do was to get home and relax. This would be his last train for a good while and he didn’t want to miss it.

But as he looked at the boy scrabbling around on the ground for his bits of jig saw, knowing it was his fault that he was having to do this, he got down with him and began to pick up the pieces as well while all the other tired commuters were hurrying by. He heard the train whistle blow again, and knew it was his last chance to catch it. But he kept picking up the pieces and at last the final one had been found.

“There you are Sonny”, he said to the little boy, “I’m sorry I bumped into you like that”.

“Oh, thank-you Mister”, the little boy said, “Thank-you so much!  Is your name Jesus? That’s what He would do, isn’t it?”

Suddenly missing the train didn’t seem such a big deal after all. How much did he really show the love of His Lord to others? How much do each one of us?

Could we do what this man in the story did?   Let’s remember that our Lord Jesus said that whatever we do for the least of His people, we do it to Him (Matthew 25:35-40; Luke 9:48)

We remember that little ditty our mothers said to us as children….”Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me!” But the fact of the matter is that names DO hurt us! We have to learn to be careful what we say, and often more importantly, HOW we say it.

Words are like ripples on the calm water….they go on for  very long way. Time may erase them to a degree, but the sting of hurtful words are never forgotten totally.

Words said in jest are no better….they can be hurtful to others too. How often we remember what others have said to and about us, as a joke! We don’t forget in a hurry do we!

On the other hand, there are words that build others up, words that are worth listening to and taking notice of. That little old lady sitting in the corner has a wealth of experience behind her….take notice of what she has to tell you. Determine to learn from others’ experiences….don’t be like the teenager who said defiantly to her mother, “I don’t want to learn from your experiences, I want to learn from my own. You’ll be there to pick up the pieces!!”

Let’s make this our New Year’s resolution this year…..learn to be careful what we say and how we say it!