“Grandpa!” yelled little Max happily. He dropped his school bag at the door, kicked off his shoes, and ran into the kitchen where he found his grandfather with a wooden spoon stirring the delicious soup he was preparing. Little Max jumped into his grandfather´s arms.
“Maxy!” chuckled Grandpa as he lifted him off the ground.
“They truly miss you, Daddy,” said Mother smiling.
“We love you Grandpa!” Max added.
“However there is someone missing, where’s sweet little Annie?” Grandpa asked as he put Max down.
“I’m not sure, she didn’t talk much on the way back home, she looked sad. I think it has to do with Lyla,” answered Max.
“Oh no,” Mother slowly shook her head.
“Lyla?” Grandpa scratched his head.
“Lyla and Annie are friends, but yesterday Lyla made a remark about Annie´s nose. . . I think I´ll go speak to Annie.” Just as Mother was about to make her way out, Grandpa kindly stopped her.
“Let me go talk to her.” He winked at Mother as he headed up to Annie’s room.
“Knock, knock” said Grandpa as he lightly knocked on the door, “May I come in?”
“Grandpa? Um. . . okay,” answered Annie sadly.
Grandpa slowly walked in, Annie was lying face down on her, but quickly got up as grandpa walked in. He sat in the pink chair next to Annie’s bed and looked into his grand-daughter’s light brown eyes.
“Grandpa, I don’t know what to do. Lyla called me button nose yesterday and she really hurt my feelings. But today she said sorry. I told her I wouldn’t accept her apology, and that she could never be my friend again. Now I feel sad because I feel like I hate her and Mother says feeling hatred is a poisonous feeling and that I only hurt myself really. Grandpa, what do I do?” Tears began to run down little Annie’s rosy cheeks.
“Would you like to hear a story Jesus once told?” asked Grandpa with a soft look in his eyes.
“Of course, Grandpa,” answered Annie, as she wiped her tears.
“One day, a servant was called before a king because he owed this king a great deal of money. The debt was so great that there was no way the servant could pay. Therefore, the king ordered the servant to sell everything he had, including his family and himself to pay off what he owed. The servant cried out for mercy, begging on his knees that the king would forgive him of this great debt. So much was his cry and begging that the king’s heart was softened and he decided to forgive this servant the great debt he owed. But as this happy servant made his way home, he found a fellow servant who owed him a little bit of money. He told the servant that he must pay him or he would make sure he was thrown into prison. No matter how much this fellow servant cried and begged him to forgive him, the servant that had been forgiven threw him into jail. When the king heard about what had happened, he was angered, and asked that the servant whom he had forgiven be brought before him once more. The king then told this servant that for not having mercy towards his fellow servant for so much less than his own debt, now he would go to prison until the last cent was paid. My sweet little Annie, in Matthew 18 Jesus has called us to never stop forgiving. God has forgiven us, even when our debt was great towards Him. Now we must forgive those who offend us, and show others we are grateful for the mercy God has with us.”
“Grandpa, now I understand. It was wrong of me not to accept Lyla’s apology. God forgives me when I say I´m sorry. Now I must show the same mercy to Lyla. Thank you, Grandpa.” Annie gave her grandpa a big warm hug.
“Thank God, my sweet child. Now, we best get downstairs to eat that delicious soup before it gets cold.”
“Yes!” smiled Annie as she jumped off her bed and ran out the door.