My Wonder Studio

FEBRUARY

Help a Friend

“A friend loves at all times… ” (Proverbs 17:17 NIV).

• Week 1: Offer to help a friend with a project, whether a school, club, or personal project.
• Week 2: Share a special toy or game with a friend.
• Week 3: Tell a friend why he or she is important to you.
• Week 4: Talk to a friend you haven’t talked with in a while.

MARCH

Help Your Neighbors

“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4 ESV).

• Week 1: Offer to help assist your neighbor in some way (wash their car, help weed a neighbor’s flower bed, clear snow from walkway, or carry in the groceries).
• Week 2: Check in on an elderly neighbor (with your parents’ permission or help).
• Week 3: Bake a dessert for a neighbor (or neighbors).
• Week 4: Offer to take out the garbage bins for one of your neighbors on garbage day or return the bins afterwards.

APRIL

Help Out in the House

“If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (John 13:17 NKJV).

• Week 1: Help make a dish for dinner on your own (asking your parents for advice when needed).
• Week 2: Make someone else’s bed—your parents’, your brother’s, or your sister’s.
• Week 3: Do a job you usually don’t do without anyone asking you to do it (setting the table, putting away the toys, tidying up the living room, sweeping the floor).
• Week 4: Assist your dad or mom with one of their projects, helping out as much as you can.

MAY

Adjust Your Attitudes

Your attitude is like a price tag; it shows how valuable you are.—Anonymous

• Week 1: Apologize to someone you have offended or hurt in some way.
• Week 2: Show gratitude to your parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and grandparents any chance you get.
• Week 3: Make a bigger effort to show your parents and teachers that you respect them by listening when spoken to, responding quickly, etc.
• Week 4: Forgive someone who has offended or hurt you.

JUNE

Change It Up

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.—Leo Tolstoy

• Week 1: Let your brother, sister, or friend sit in your favorite seat, whether at the house or at school or on the bus or in the car, etc.
• Week 2: Play with a new classmate at school instead of your usual friends.
• Week 3: Read a story or book from a genre you haven’t read before.
• Week 4: Swap chores with your brother, sister, or parents, and be willing to do a chore that involves extra work.

JULY

Do a Kind Deed for Someone Outside Your Usual Circle

“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2 NIV).

• Week 1: Compliment someone you see on a regular basis, but who you don’t know very well. For example, your grocer, your hair stylist, or your bus driver.
• Week 2: Ask your parents to help you create one or a few “blessing bags,” and donate them to a shelter.
• Week 3: Draw a picture and write an inspirational or encouraging quote, and leave it taped to the front door of a neighbor.
• Week 4: Make a jar for saving a few coins here and there from your allowance or earnings to give to a waiter as an extra tip.

AUGUST

Make Summer Fun

We didn’t realize we were making memories; we just knew we were having fun.—A. A. Milne

• Week 1: Invite someone to play with you and your friends at the playground or in your neighborhood.
• Week 2: Pass out stickers to children waiting in line (at a supermarket, the amusement park, at an ice cream shop, etc.).
• Week 3: Leave a bubble set on a doorstep where you know children live.
• Week 4: Create a treasure hunt for a friend!

SEPTEMBER

Learn Something New

“Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning” (Proverbs 9:9 ESV).

• Week 1: Pick two classmates and learn something new about them.
• Week 2: Learn the names of the kids you often see at the playground.
• Week 3: Learn a few new facts about nature.
• Week 4: Learn how to cook a new dish (this can be a salad, dessert, or even a meal).

OCTOBER

Try Something New

If you never try, you’ll never know what you’re capable of.—John Barrow

• Week 1: Try a food that you’ve never tasted before or that you don’t usually eat.
• Week 2: Introduce yourself or greet someone you haven’t yet talked to at school, even if they are in a different grade or class than you.
• Week 3: Play a game your brother or sister would enjoy but that you don’t usually play, to learn how to appreciate what they like.
• Week 4: Learn how to do something new by asking one of your parents, or a family member, or a teacher to instruct you how.

NOVEMBER

Help Your Community

“When we have the opportunity to do good to anyone, we should do it” (Galatians 6:10 ERV).

• Week 1: Pick up garbage in your neighborhood or at a local park.
• Week 2: Collect children’s books or magazines for your local library or a children’s dental clinic.
• Week 3: Rake a neighbor’s leaves or shovel snow from their walkway or sweep the front steps.
• Week 4: Help out at an animal shelter or offer to walk your neighbor’s dog.

DECEMBER

Spread Christmas Cheer

“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33 ESV).

• Week 1: Donate one or a few of your toys to charity.
• Week 2: Earn money from chores and send the money to a missionary or a charity.
• Week 3: Make Christmas cards or bake cookies for any one service group (firemen, police, postmen, nurses, etc.), and then deliver these to them.
• Week 4: Make a homemade gift for someone.

After arriving at the campsite and unloading bags into various cabins, everyone gathered firewood from the surrounding wooded area. They built a large bonfire to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. Later in the evening they told jokes, spooky stories, and toward the end, riddles.

“What has four eyes, no friends, and reads all day?” inquired one child.

Everyone paused to see how Kimberly would react.

“Oh, did you ask me a question?” asked Kimberly, after noticing everyone’s stares. Everyone laughed as they realized she had not been listening.

Kimberly stood, mumbled something about being tired and ran to her cabin.

The next day was sunny with a light, pleasant breeze. After lunch, a couple of the boys, led by Ted, approached Kimberly, who had been avoiding the rest of the group all morning and was now sitting at a wooden picnic table at the edge of the camp clearing.

Kimberly secretly liked Ted. They lived on the same street and would sometimes walk together on their way home after school. When he was apart from his other friends, Ted was nice to her, though he would never talk to her in front of his classmates.

“Hey,” said Ted, avoiding Kimberly’s eyes. “I’m sorry about last night … that joke.”

“Oh, it’s all right,” said Kimberly, surprised and touched that Ted apologized for what wasn’t his fault.

Ted then pulled a small flower out from behind his back and shoved it toward her. She reached for the stem of the flower and Ted turned and walked away. Kimberly wondered why he'd left so abruptly; she also noticed some other boys, standing at a distance, doubled over with laughter. Then she looked down. The flower stem had been broken, causing the head of the flower to hang limply. With tears in her eyes, Kimberly ran into the forested area to be alone.

Kimberly stayed in the woods for over an hour, and she wondered if she would even be missed. When she returned, she found an empty camp, and the cook on the camp staff told her that a game of capture the flag was in progress in the woods. Following the general directions the cook had given her, Kimberly set out to find the rest of the group, and she resolved not to get down about Ted or the ridicule from the others.

“Look who caught up with us!” complained one of the boys.

Kimberly blushed, but she was determined to join in and try to have fun.

A little time passed, and she realized the boys seemed lost, though they weren’t admitting it. Kimberly looked around her; she had no idea which direction she'd come from either. The sun was setting, and the air was getting cooler. The boys were climbing over rocks and through bushes in the direction that they thought they had heard some voices. Kimberly did her best to keep up with them.

Finally the boys heard their camp supervisor and some other classmates calling their names from a distance, and they headed in that direction. They had crossed a narrow river and now had to return to the other side. There was a particularly large boulder that connected with several others, which would take them across, but Kimberly hesitated at the foot of the boulder.

“What has four eyes, no friends, reads all day, and can't climb?” jeered one of the boys. The other boys chuckled, and Ted did as well, though he mumbled to Kimberly that she could climb it if she really tried. But Kimberly stumbled through the bushes to the right, saying she'd find another way across just a little further down.

After crossing, Ted asked his friends to walk slower so Kimberly could catch up with them, but Kimberly didn't appear. Ted stopped. Was she still looking for a way across? Ted decided to wait while the others went ahead to join the rest of the class. Ten minutes passed. Still no sign of Kimberly. The crickets were starting to call to each other.

Ted heard noises in the bushes behind him and their camp supervisor came through, looking concerned. The others had told her what Kimberly had said about finding another way across the river, and she had come to find Kimberly. They stumbled through the bushes and down to the river, where, to their surprise, just fifteen meters away from where the boys had crossed was a small waterfall, and the ground dropped away on either side.

They crossed the river again to look around and caught sight of a broken branch leaning over the drop. Ted ran to the edge and looked over. There, ten feet below them, close to where the waterfall pooled, Kimberly lay motionless beside a large rock. They scrambled down. She had blood on her head. She must have still been running when she came to the drop and fell straight down, hitting the rock. The camp supervisor touched her arm and called her name, and Kimberley moaned faintly.

A rescue team was called in to take Kimberly to the nearest hospital, and the kids returned home from their summer camp a day early, sober and quiet. Poor Kimberly lay in a coma for two days before opening her eyes and asking for her mother.

Wishing to make amends, Ted went to the hospital where Kimberly was staying. Although Kimberly was not yet receiving visitors, he was surprised to find a few of his friends, who had also teased her, in the waiting room as well. Presently, a tired-looking woman entered—it was Kimberly’s mother.

She said little, except to explain that she'd found a flower pressed between a piece of paper in Kimberly's pocket from the day of her accident. She pressed it into Ted’s hand. He opened it to see a purple and yellow flower, and scrawled on the paper were the words “from Ted.” On the back of the paper was a handwritten poem.

Dear Lord, when others make me sad,

Thank You for making me glad.

Thank You for flowers and grass and trees,

For the birds that sing, and for the bees.

Help me, dear Lord,

To find a friend,

My broken heart, dear Lord, please mend.

Feeling terrible, but wiser, Ted looked up at Kimberley's mother. The woman looked pale and tired, but there was kindness, despite the pain in her eyes. She thanked Ted for being a friend to Kimberly, and for the times he’d walked her home from school.

It took a couple of weeks before Kimberly was well enough to leave the hospital, but it took many more weeks for those of us involved to recover from the shock of such a close call. As a result of the accident, Kimberly was confined to a wheelchair for several months while she underwent physical therapy. Eventually she regained her mobility and strength.

Kimberly and I became good friends—as we should have been right from the start if I had not allowed unkindness to get in the way. I still wince, thinking on that evening so many years ago. You see, I'm Ted.

From that day on, I changed. I know that if just one of us—if I—had stepped out in kindness, humility, and courage to say one sincere word of kindness that day, if we had helped her across those large rocks, the accident would never have happened. It was the beginning of a new life of kindness for me and for many of my friends.

Jamie knew he certainly hadn’t given the situation much cooperation. When the other kids would tease him, he would become sullen and upset. Surely that couldn’t make them want to be friends with him.

Most of the kids at school have probably never seen me smiling or happy. They likely think I’m always sad and upset.

A smile came over Jamie’s face as he made a decision. I’m going to try to start this school year off right. I really want friends, so I’ll try to be friendly.

When Jamie arrived at his assigned classroom, most of his new classmates were already seated and roll call was about to begin. His new teacher looked kind. “Mrs. Kate Noelle” was written in elegant cursive on the blackboard behind her.

As Jamie walked across the floor, he tried to look as friendly and normal as possible, yet he couldn’t help but think that everyone was staring at him, wondering what in the world was wrong with his legs and why he was limping.

He sank down in his chair. Why would any of these kids want to be my friend when they could be friends with someone who can walk properly?

“Roll call,” said Mrs. Noelle, and she began to read through the list of students. As each name was called out, that student stood, acknowledging they were present.

“Jamie Lee Wilster!” Jamie struggled to push his chair back from his desk, in order to stand up. The seconds seemed like hours, and he felt every eye in the room being focused on him. He could hear what he thought the other students were thinking…

Look, he can’t even stand up!

What’s wrong with him, anyway?

Boy, he’s not going to be any fun at all.

There’s a handicapped boy in my class!

Once Jamie had freed himself from his chair and was again seated, Mrs. Noelle said, “Thank you, Jamie. In future roll calls, you do not need to stand.”

“Special treatment for the handicapped kid, eh?” a voice called out from the back row.

“Billy Kenter!” Mrs. Noelle said sternly. “That comment was not called for.”

When the recess bell rang, Jamie stayed inside the classroom but looked out the window to see Billy—soon to become his personal “bully”—round up all the other kids in order to play a game of his own choosing. It was obvious that the other kids listened to Billy’s every word.

“Don’t let Billy bother you.”

Jamie turned to see a girl standing a couple of desks across from him, holding a book in her hand.

“Hi, I’m Jenny Mariner, one of your classmates. Nice to meet you.”

“Uh-uh, nice to meet you too. Aren’t you going to go play outside?”

“I take ballet lessons after school, so I like to save my energy. And besides, I prefer to read. How about you?”

“Oh, yes … I mean, reading is one of my favorite things to do, too. I’ve got quite a library at home. You should … s-see it.”

“Perhaps I will,” Jenny responded. She sat and began reading intently.

Jamie’s heart was pounding. Someone had actually talked to him. Someone had actually taken an interest in him. Someone had come up to him and said “hi.”

Jamie thought back to a couple months earlier when the last school year had ended. He had received all of the honor awards there were to receive, but that didn’t matter to him. He had no friends. He had not been invited to any of the after-school parties that all the other kids were talking about and preparing for. He had felt so left out.

One night, while on a camping trip orchestrated by his parents to pull him into a better frame of mind, Jamie had prayed: “Dear Jesus, Dad and Mom tell me that You love me and that You care for me. I believe them, because I know that they love me, and that they would never tell me something that wasn’t true. I don’t know if You can do this for me or not—maybe I’m too bad for You to hear me and answer my prayers—but my prayer and wish is that You would send me a friend. I don’t know how to be friends with the kids at school, and I need help. Would You just help me somehow?”

Is this the answer to my prayer? Is Jenny the friend that God is sending me? Could He really be answering my little prayer from that night, so many months ago?

“Class time. Let’s get out our history books.”

Jamie opened his textbook. When the school day ended, and the students filed out of the classroom, Jamie was last to leave, absorbed in taking notes on what to study further at home.

“Jamie,” Mrs. Noelle said, “you are a most attentive student. I like that, and I think we’ll have a lot of fun learning together this year.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Noelle.”

Jamie was alone, or so he thought, when he felt a hand tap him on the shoulder. He turned to see Jenny standing beside him with book in hand.

“Oh, you surprised me! I thought I was alone in here.”

“I just wanted to say goodbye. See you tomorrow!”

“Uh, goodbye!” Jamie said, a wide smile stretched across his face.

*

Days passed, and Jamie and Jenny became better friends, and even though Billy would bully Jamie, having Jenny as his best friend made the rest not matter much.

One day Jenny said to Jamie, “I have something to say, but I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

“What is it?” Jamie cautiously asked, awful thoughts racing through his head. Perhaps she doesn’t want to be my friend anymore, he thought and cringed.

“I’m very happy to be your friend,” said Jenny, “but I don’t think it’s right for you to not care about any of the other kids. It doesn’t matter to you whether or not they are your friends, or whether they say good or bad things about you. I know that some of them are not being very nice to you, but you’re not going out of your way to be friendly or nice to them either. Sometimes it seems you pretend they’re not really there.”

It’s true, Jamie thought. I don’t care about the other kids. I don’t care if they’re mean to me. And I don’t want to try to be nice to them.

“I guess you’re right,” said Jamie. “But why am I supposed to be the one to be nice to them when they’re the ones saying mean things to me? I don’t think that’s fair.”

“Just because things don’t seem fair to you, or it seems like someone else is being mean to you or unkind doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be kind and friendly to them. You’ll never get any friends like that. The way to make friends is to be friendly, even if the other person doesn’t seem to appreciate your kindness or respond right away.”

Jamie finally replied, “All right, I think I can do that with all the kids, except for Billy.”

“What do you mean, ‘except for Billy’?”

“Billy is such a bully. He’s always picking on me and calls me bad names in front of the other kids. There’s no way I’m going to be friendly to him. Besides, he can do all the things that I’ve always wanted to do, but can’t. Then he picks on me, and I can’t do anything about it. It’s not fair that I have to be the one to be nice to him.”

“What are all the things that he can do that you can’t?”

“He can run and play sports. He’s on the baseball team, and I’ve always wanted to play baseball. He’s tough and has all the kids around him all the time. I’ve never had any friends. You’re one of the first friends I’ve ever had. Plus, he’s cool.”

“A lot of kids might think that Billy is cool. But you’re cool too. It’s all those nice things inside you that made me want to be your friend. It’s your kindness and patience. You’re such an interesting person, and you’re not immature and silly like some of the other kids. Plus, almost anybody can be cool on the outside, but Jesus makes you cool on the inside, and that’s what you are.”

Jamie thought about what Jenny had said, but it seemed it would be so difficult to be nice to Billy. What if when he tried to be nice to Billy and talk to him, Billy would just make fun of him all the more?

“Come on, I know you can do it. Please try! I believe that things can and will work out, and you’ll be so much happier once you and Billy can be friends. Just start with something simple; be kind, or say something nice to him. I know it’s going to be hard, but it’ll be worth it.”

“Okay. I’ll think about it.”

Billy wanted to try, if for no other reason than that Jenny was his friend and had asked him to.

The next day there was an extended recess, so the boys gathered in the school yard for baseball practice. Jamie sat watching through the window. He saw Billy get up to bat and make an incredible hit. How can he play so well and be so good at everything when he’s such a jerk? It’s not fair!

Then he remembered what Jenny had told him: “Just start with something simple—be kind, or say something nice.”

I can’t be thinking bad thoughts about Billy, or I’m never going to be able to say anything nice to him.

Soon recess was over, and Billy and the boys were coming back inside when Billy tripped and everything he was carrying flew out of his arms and landed on the floor. Billy’s cap was jostled, landing close to Jamie’s feet.

What should I do?

He paused, then bent down to pick up Billy’s cap. The hallway grew silent as everyone knew how Billy picked on Jamie. Billy slowly walked over to Jamie. Jamie gave a hesitant smile and held out the cap to Billy.

Billy didn’t smile. He snatched his hat out of Jamie’s hand and proceeded to open his locker and stuff all his things in it.

“Um, Billy, you played really well today. I was watching you.”

Billy was surprised. “Uh, thanks. You were watching me?” Then Billy realized that all his friends were standing around him. “Well, yeah, it’s my game after all. It’s certainly not yours.”

Jamie had tried to be kind, and it seemed to have almost worked for a moment, but it hadn’t lasted. Jamie told Jenny what had happened.

“I’m so proud of you!” said Jenny. “I’m sure Billy appreciated your kindness. He probably couldn’t let himself show it because his buddies were around, and he wouldn’t want them to think that he’s getting soft.”

Days passed, and Jamie kept up his efforts of being kind, not only to Billy, but also to his other classmates. Similar instances occurred with Billy, where he seemed to be almost friendly toward Jamie, but then would revert to his former self.

Yet Jamie had to admit that Billy, although not totally friendly, was certainly not as rude and mean as he was before. Billy had stopped calling him names and didn’t pick on him or bully him. So maybe his efforts had been worthwhile after all.

Jamie was happier too. Not only did he have Jenny as a friend, but he also knew that he was doing his best to be friendly to his classmates, even if they weren’t always so nice to him in return. Things had gotten better between him and his classmates, and he was glad about that. Yet he wasn’t prepared for what happened next.

*

It was Friday afternoon and the last day of school before winter break. Mrs. Noelle told everyone to put away their books and pack up their belongings.

“Isn’t it time for grammar review?” Jamie asked.

“Yes, but we’re doing something different today.”

Jamie looked around the room. This was very unusual, though his classmates appeared unfazed.

“Once everyone is packed up, head to the gym,” Mrs. Noelle said. “Jamie and Jenny, you two can go to the library and read.”

As his classmates filed out of the classroom to the gym, Jamie turned to Jenny, “Why are we going to the library?”

“Maybe it’s because Mrs. Noelle knows that we are bookworms,” Jenny answered, “so she’s just letting us do what we enjoy. Let’s not worry about it.”

“All right,” Jamie said, and they made their way to the library.

Within about fifteen minutes, the hush in the library was broken by Mrs. Noelle. “Time is up! Back to the classroom.”

“What happens now?” Jamie asked Mrs. Noelle.

“No questions!” was the only response.

Jamie and Jenny approached the darkened classroom door.

“Why are the lights off?” Jamie questioned.

Jenny pushed open the door and pulled Jamie in by the hand.

“Surprise! Surprise!” shouted all his classmates.

The lights turned on, displaying a festively decorated classroom and all his classmates standing near the blackboard, smiling. On the blackboard were written the words, “We think you’re the greatest, Jamie!” Jamie’s classmates each had brought to class a small gift that they’d gotten for him. And on one of the tables were cakes, cookies, biscuits, juice, and other treats.

This was all for him? He couldn’t believe it. He must be dreaming!

He glanced around the room, and yes, there was Billy! Even Billy had a party hat on.

“Jamie, sit down here at the front of the classroom,” Mrs. Noelle said cheerfully. “Who wants to tell Jamie what’s going on?”

“I do! As you all know,” Billy began, “I hardly ever talk to Jamie. So this is meant to make up for all those times when I wasn’t nice to you—or even worse, when I said bad things to you, which I’m really sorry for.

“We had been talking about how when school first started, we weren’t very nice to you. But now that we know you better, we’ve all seen what a nice guy you are. We’ve unanimously decided to make you our ‘favorite student of the year.’

“We also think you’re the bravest, too. All of us, we don’t have anything to complain about, and we’re ashamed that you were the one who was kind to us, when we weren’t nice to you. So we all want to apologize for that, and especially me, because I think you’re a really great guy. I want to be your friend—we all do. This party is to say how nice we think you are!”

“I don’t know what to say! I couldn’t want any better classmates than you all. Thanks a million!” Jamie exclaimed.

Then Jamie remembered. “Billy said he didn’t know how I did it—being nice to you all, even when you all weren’t nice to me. Well, a couple of months ago, I prayed and asked Jesus for a friend. He answered my prayer, and He gave me a best friend—Jenny. Jenny helped me learn how to be nice to all of you. So I can’t take much credit. God answered my prayer and gave me a friend who taught me how to be friendly.”

Jamie had learned how to overcome his disability and how to find love and friendship—by giving love and friendship to others.

The End