An elementary school gave all of its students an opportunity to write a short paragraph to tell their classmates and teachers about the things for which they were thankful.
Miss Grateful, a third-grade teacher, issued some guidelines for her students. "You are allowed to be thankful for anything," she told them. "But to emphasize the importance of those things for which you are thankful, the letters must be all capitals. Also, your paragraph must be written in red ink."
Students were given 30 minutes to write their paragraphs. All students were excited about the project, so they completed the assignment within the allotted time frame.
George wrote that he was most thankful for his parents. "Some kids are orphans," he wrote. "They don't have a mom or a dad. I have the best parents in the world."
Grace wrote that she was thankful for her friends. "All of my friends love me, " she wrote. "I tell them every day I'm so glad they love me. I love to be loved."
Georgette wrote that she was thankful for water. "We can only live for about three days without water," she observed. "Water is my favorite drink. I never drink tea or soft drinks. I thank God every day for water."
Gracey was grateful for Gordo, her German Shepherd dog. "He's my best friend," Gracey wrote. "He saved my life last year when our house burned down."
Gorman wrote that he was thankful for Miss Grateful. "She is the best teacher ever," he wrote. "She is teaching us the importance of getting a good education. She wants us to have a great life, so she's helping us learn as much as possible."
Gertie wrote that she was grateful for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. "Jesus died on the Cross to forgive our sins," she wrote. "He was born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, performed miracles, died on the Cross and was buried. Then He was resurrected and went back to heaven. Soon, He is coming back again, and we will live forever with Him."
"Very nice paragraph," Miss Grateful told Gertie.
"I have something else I want to share," said Gertie, "but I didn't have time to write it all down. We're all writing about the things we're thankful for, but I think it's important to realize that if we're thankful for something, it's only logical to be thankful to someone for that something. I'm thankful to God, because He's the one who gives us all of our blessings.
"And thank you for letting us write our paragraphs in red ink. Red is my favorite color, because it is the color of Jesus' blood. And that blood provides the gift of salvation to the world."
"And we can all be thankful for that!," exclaimed Miss Grateful.
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