Flowers for Father's Day

Father's Day was coming, and the children in the church planned a special program to honor their fathers. Misha was learning a poem to recite, and Svieta and Tonya would sing a song. Other children were singing in the choir or reciting Bible verses about fathers. The children worked hard to learn their songs and their poems and Bible verses well so their parents would be pleased.

In the Russian culture, when people wish to honor someone they present them with flowers. The children wanted to give their fathers flowers, too, but there was no money to buy so many flowers. What would Father's Day be without flowers?

Flower Hunt

The teacher had an idea. She told the children to come back to the church after dinner on Sabbath, and they would go for a walk in the forest and pick flowers for their fathers. The children were excited to think that they would have flowers for their fathers after all.

At 2:00 the children streamed back into the church ready to hike. When everyone was there, the little troop headed toward the nearby woods. They spread out to search for flowers. They looked under trees and beside the stream. They searched in dark places and in sunny places, in little valleys and on little hills. But no one could find any flowers.

That's strange, the teacher thought. There are always flowers in the forest at this time of year.

Where Are They?

The children searched for more than an hour without finding even one flower. They were getting tired. "Teacher," one little girl said, "my legs are getting tired. Could we ask Jesus to help us find the flowers?"

"That is a good idea," the teacher said. She called the children together to pray. Everyone bowed their head while the teacher prayed. "Dear Jesus, thank You for the forest and the stream. Thank You for the lovely trees that shade us from the sun. Jesus, we are looking for some flowers to give our daddies today, but we have not found any. Jesus, You understand this, because You honored Your Father too. Please help us to find the flowers real soon. Thank You, Jesus. Amen."

The teacher opened her eyes and looked around for some clue where to look for the flowers. Then she remembered that over a nearby hill was a little meadow. Perhaps some flowers were blooming there. She pointed in the direction of the hill, and the children started running toward it.

God's Lovely Gift

The first children reached the top of the hill before the teacher did, and she could tell by their excited shouts that they had found something. She hurried up the hill and gazed over into the meadow beyond. It was covered with flowers. She showed the children how to pick the flowers so that they did not damage the stems.

"Pick enough flowers for a nice bouquet," she said. "Then pick some extra for the children who could not come with us." The children waded into the ocean of flowers and carefully chose the most beautiful blossoms. When they had picked all the flowers they could carry, they brought them to teacher.

"The flowers are so beautiful!" the teacher said. "Let's thank Jesus for them." The children bowed their heads as the teacher prayed. "Thank You, Jesus, for showing us where the flowers are. And thank You for giving us so many to choose from. Our fathers will be very happy with their flowers, especially when we tell them how You gave them to us. Amen."

The children carefully carried their flowers to the church, then hurried home to change clothes.

Flowers for Fathers

The Father's Day program was a wonderful success. Misha recited his poem perfectly, and Svieta and Tonya's song was lovely. But the children could hardly wait to give their fathers their surprise.

After the children finished their parts in the program, the teacher asked the fathers in the audience to stand. Then, as the children took bouquets of flowers to all the fathers, the teacher spoke. "We wanted to give our fathers flowers today, but we did not have money to buy any. So we decided to go to the forest to pick some. But we could not find any. We stopped and asked Jesus to show us where the flowers were growing, and as soon as we prayed we remembered to look in a meadow that we had not searched. We found these lovely flowers there. These flowers are special gifts from your children-and from Jesus."

Meadow Miracle

The next day the teacher returned to the meadow to pick some more lovely flowers. But when she arrived, not a single flower was growing there. The teacher stared at the empty meadow in silent awe. Then she whispered another prayer. "Thank You, Jesus, for providing the flowers for the children as a special answer to their prayers."