Children’s Story for January 9th, 2005

The Powerful Compliment

By Janet Penner, Fort Garry Mennonite Fellowship, Winnipeg, MB

Bible Passage

• Matthew 3: 13-17

Theme

• The baptism of Jesus and God’s compliment after Jesus came out of the water.

Wondering questions (use before or after the story):

• Have you ever had a compliment that meant a lot to you?
• How did that make you feel?
• Can you think of a compliment for the person who complimented you?
• I wonder what pleases God about each of us.

The Powerful Compliment

(This is a true story, but the name has been changed.)

Matthew was about to start Grade Two in a new school. His mother phoned the teacher to warn her about her terrible son. She said Matthew got into fights every day and would swear at the teachers because of his bad temper. The teacher listened and thanked the mother for the warning. She believed that there was good in every person and wondered what this boy was good at.

On the first day of school, Matthew was getting annoyed because the boy next to him was tapping his pencil. Matthew’s face was getting red and his body was tensing up, but he was controlling his temper for the moment. The teacher decided to take action to avoid a fight. She called for the class’s attention. She explained that if things made them angry, they could control their temper by counting to 10 or by thinking of nice ways to ask the person who was bothering them to stop. Then she complimented Matthew for showing good self-control when someone was annoying him. She ended by saying that if they could all control their tempers like Matthew had done that morning, Grade Two would be a much more pleasant experience for all of them. When the children went out for recess, she told Matthew that if there ever was a time that things got too hard for him to handle, he could come tell her and she would help him sort it out. He was not alone in solving his problems.

Two months later, the teacher got a phone call from Matthew’s mother. She wanted to know what the teacher had said or done to produce such a change in her son. He was pleasant, cheerful and helpful, even around his brother and sister. She was used to him crying and pretending to be sick everyday so he could miss school. Now, when he was sick and she tried to keep him home, he cried that he wanted to go to school.

Matthew turned out to be one of the teacher’s best behaved students. One honest compliment had given him the encouragement and power to improve his behaviour.

Our scripture reading today included the compliment God gave Jesus after he was baptized. The heavens opened up and the Spirit of God descended as a dove and a voice from heaven said, “This is my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” To please God is a great compliment. Knowing God loved him and was proud of him gave Jesus strength and courage for his life and work. I wonder how often Jesus thought of these words. I think he remembered them whenever things got was hard and discouraging.

God’s love and pleasure with us can give us strength and courage too.