F A M I L Y

He ran into a stranger as he passed by,
'Oh excuse me please' was his reply.


He said, 'Please excuse me too;
I wasn't watching for you.'


They were very polite, the stranger and the man.
They went their way and said goodbye.


But at home a different story is told,
How we treat our loved ones, young and old.


Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
His son stood beside him very still.


When he turned, he nearly knocked him down.
'Move out of the way,' he said with a frown.


His son walked away, his little heart broken.
He didn't realize how harshly he had spoken.


While he lay awake in bed,
God's still small voice came to him and said,


'While dealing with a stranger,
common courtesy you use,
but the family you love, you seem to abuse.


Go and look on the kitchen floor,
You'll find some flowers there by the door.


Those are the flowers he brought for you.
He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.


He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,
you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes.'


By this time, he felt very small,
And now his tears began to fall.


He quietly went and knelt by his bed;
'Wake up, little one, wake up,' he said.


'Are these the flowers you picked for me?'
He smiled, 'I found 'em, out by the tree.


I picked 'em because they're pretty like you.
I knew you'd like 'em, especially the blue.'


I said, 'Son, I'm very sorry for the way I acted today;
I shouldn't have yelled at you that way.'
He said, 'Oh, Mom, that's okay.
I love you anyway.'


I said, 'Son, I love you too,
and I do like the flowers, especially the blue.'


FAMILY
Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company
that we are working for could easily replace us in
a matter of days.
But the family we left behind will feel the loss
for the rest of their lives.


And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more
into work than into our own family,
an unwise investment indeed,
don't you think?
So what is behind the story?


Do you know what the word FAMILY means?
FAMILY = (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU