Family Portrait

Family Portrait

(Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-14)

Maya waited as Miss Hamilton passed out drawing paper. “Take out your crayons,” said Miss Hamilton. “I want each of you to draw a picture of your family.”

Some of the children groaned in protest, but Maya thought it sounded like fun. She knew just what to draw. She first drew her parents, her brother and sister, and herself. Then she added their cat, Princess. But she didn’t stop there. She drew girls, boys, men, and women. Blondes, brunettes, redheads, and baldheads. She used peach, tan, light brown, darker brown, yellow, and pink crayons to draw the faces. She drew some people with glasses, braces, casts, and crutches. She was drawing a boy in a wheelchair when Miss Hamilton asked, “Who would like to share your picture with us?”

Randi raised her hand. She waved her paper proudly. “Here’s me, my parents and brother, and all my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins,” she said.

“Aunts and uncles and cousins?” asked Benji. “I thought we were supposed to just draw our parents and brothers and sisters.”

“I said ‘family’ so that can be whoever you want to include,” said Miss Hamilton. She stopped at Maya’s chair. “Maya, please tell us about your picture,” she said.

Maya held up her picture. “Here’s me, Valerie and Rick, our parents, and our cat. And here are some of you and some other people from all over the world.”

“We’re not your family,” said Benji, “and I don’t think those other people you drew are either.”

“Last week our church memory verse was about everyone who’s a Christian being part of God’s family. Well, I’m part of God’s family, so all kinds of people are in my family, too.” She stopped, unsure of what her classmates and her teacher would think of that.

“I like it!” Randi said, sketching a few extra figures into her picture.

“So do I,” said Miss Hamilton. “It’s nice to think of all of us as one big family.” SN

HOW ABOUT YOU?

Who fits your definition of “family”? Your relatives? Your fellow Sunday school and church members? People you might not like right now? Christians in other countries? If you’re part of God’s family, then everyone who loves him—even people you don’t like or don’t know—are part of your family.

All Christians Are God’s Family

MEMORIZE:

“Whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone, especially to our Christian brothers and sisters.” Galatians 6:10