By Opal Ashenbrenner

Once when four-year old Brooke was spending the day with me, she painted a little plastic sun catcher.

I made this for you, Granapple,” she said. (Her grandchildren called her Granapple because she always served them apples.)

Of course, I though it was beautiful even though the paint was a little smeared and one color ran into the other. After looking through the house for just the right place to hang it, Brooke excitedly exclaimed, “Let’s hang it in your bedroom window so you’ll see it every morning when you wake up.” Amazingly, the sun catcher looked beautiful with the sun shining through it. The smeared paint did not even show. Brooke was very pleased with her handiwork.

A few mornings later, I woke up feeling depressed and discouraged over some problem I had to face that day. As I lay there for a minute dreading to get up, my eyes fell on the sun catcher. It looked dull and drab and all the imperfections showed. That’s just the way I feel today, I thought as I slowly pulled myself out of bed. Then as I opened the shade, the little sun catcher seemed to come alive and was instantly transformed into the bright, shining object it had been when we hung it. What a difference a little sunshine had made and what a difference it makes in our lives when we allow the Son to shine through us. The little sun catcher lifted my spirits and I felt better the rest of the day.

This story is used by permission of Opal Ashenbrenner.

© 2004 Opal Ashenbrenner. Thirty-one Days of Prayers for my Grandchildren; PublishAmerica, Baltimore.  p. 19