The first school I ever
attended sat halfway up the side of a hill. Along the ridge right above it
were several matronly Oak trees and down at the
bottom of the hill was the playground with
seesaws and swing sets. Every afternoon at
recess most of the boys and girls would make a mad
dash down the hill to be the first on the
swings and seesaws. A group of us boys, however, found
another great toy to play with, the acorns from
the Oak trees. Thus began the Great Acorn War.
For several days we divided into armies, gathered our
acorns, and spent recess throwing them
at each other. It was great fun until you got
hit. One day I found myself trapped behind a tree
with the other army all around me. I said a
quick prayer to God to please not let me get hit and
then made a break for it. Dozens of expertly
thrown acorns stung into my face, head, arms, and
back. I ran as fast as I could all the way back
into the school. The next day I decided the swings
might be more fun and left the warfare to
others. Soon after that one of the teachers saw the
acorn fighters in action and put a stop to the
Great Acorn War once and for all.
That was one of the first times I remember asking God
for something and it was also one of
the first times I remember Him saying No! It
took me many years to finally see that sometimes
what we think is best for us really isn’t and
that God’s wisdom is far greater than ours.
Since then I have had a lot of my prayers
answered and the answer hasn’t always been yes. I
asked God to cure my boys of their Autism but
God showed me instead how to look beyond their
handicaps and see their loving souls shining
through. I asked God for an easy life, but God gave
me a challenging one to grow my character and
learn the importance of love. I asked God for the
ability to help others and heard Him say in my
heart, "You are finally getting it!"
May God then always give you what you need even if it isn’t always what you want.
Joseph J. Mazzella joemazzella@frontier.com
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
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