Last Friday evening, Sarah said, “Let’s watch a movie, Grandma.”
As Sarah and I got comfortable in the family room on the double rocker that often holds all three of us, Donn went to the movie shelf.
Finally, he found a movie none of us had seen before: Summer of the Monkeys. I had no idea what a great movie it would be. The setting was long, long ago, and the mother read the Bible to the family on several occasions.
The star of the movie was a boy named Jay, around twelve years old, who wanted to buy a pony which cost $85—a lot of money in the olden days. He worked hard to save every penny he earned.
Jay’s little sister, Daisy, wore braces on her leg and walked with a limp. When a storm did a lot of damage to the family farm, the father took down a jar stuffed with money to make repairs. It was revealed that Jay and Daisy’s parents had been saving their money, too, for an operation for Daisy.
In the end, Jay receives reward money from the circus owner for the monkeys that had escaped. Jay goes to the farmer who owns the pony and returns with it. He gives Daisy a long ride. Then he tells his family that he only paid the farmer a few dollars for the ride, and the rest of the money will help pay for Daisy’s operation.
I was so pleased at the wonderful moral of the story, but I wanted to make sure Sarah understood. So I said, “Sarah, do you know why it was so important that Jay give his parents the money instead of buying the pony?”
Sarah shook her head.
“It showed that Jay was thinking more about his little sister’s needs than he was thinking about his wants. He wanted that pony so much, but his sister needed the operation much more. Do you understand?”
Looking thoughtful, Sarah nodded.
I paused, thinking about a time in our lives where I’d had a similar decision to make and decided to share it with Sarah.
“Many years ago, Sarah, Papa and I had a decision to make like Jay’s.”
Sarah’s eyes showed she was listening, so I continued. “My parents owned a big 200-acre farm. When my father and mother had both died, more than twenty years ago, we sold our family farm. My brothers and sisters and I each got some of the money from the sale.”
I reached for Sarah’s hand and went on, “Papa and I decided to use some of the money to put an addition on our house–an office with an outside entry for my counseling ministry and a large family room. It was exciting to plan the addition, and we hired a contractor. It was going to cost a lot of money.
“But then God started talking to me about Japan and the people there who needed Jesus. Eventually, we began to realize He wanted us to go to Japan as missionaries for a year. Months went by, and the contractor kept putting off starting on the addition again and again. And one day I asked the OMS Japan Field Director how much it would cost for us to go to Japan for a year.
“The cost was exactly the same as the cost for putting the addition on our house!”
Sarah’s eyes were wide as she continued to listen.
“I really, really wanted that addition, but I knew that the people of Japan needed Jesus more than I needed the addition. And I believed God wanted me to use that money for a year in Japan.”
I looked into Sarah’s beautiful blue eyes, wondering if she understood the meaning of my story.
Her eyes lit up as she told me, “So what God wanted was more important than what you wanted.”
Joy filled my heart! “Absolutely right, Sarah! And there may be a time in your life when you want something very much, but you realize that God wants you to do something else with that money. It will be important for you to remember that what God wants is more important than what you want.”
Often I realize that the things God asks of us weren’t just for our sakes, but for the sake of our children and grandchildren. Psalm 71:18 says So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. What a privilege to share our “God stories” with the next generation!
Thank you, Father, for the ways you work in our lives so that we can pass down our stories to the next generation! Amen.