God's Flower

by Lois Brandt
         Tommy sat at the big round table in Sunday school and colored in the
    big G in God.
          His friend Patrick picked up a crayon, but didn’t color.  “Attack of the
    killer crayon!” Patrick yelled.  He stood up and lunged at Tommy.  Tommy
    laughed and held up his crayon.  Their crayons touch like swords.
          “That’s enough Patrick.”  A man stuck his head in the classroom.  “You
    listen to Mrs. Roberts.”
          “Okay, Dad,” Patrick said.  Tommy and Patrick both sat back down at
    the big round table.
          “That’s my dad,” Patrick said, and pointed his blue crayon to the open
    door.  “Where’s your dad?”
          “Dad doesn’t come to church,” Tommy said.
          “Is he dead?” Patrick asked.
          “No,” Tommy said.  “Dad just stays home.”
           “Doesn’t your dad like God?” Patrick asked.
          “I don’t know,” Tommy said.  Tommy colored in the “O” in God.  He
    pushed hard and the red crayon broke.  
          “Careful Tommy” said Mrs. Roberts, the Sunday school teacher.  
    “You're doing such a nice job.”  She touched the corner of his paper with
    her pink fingernails.  “Can you read what it says?”   
          Tommy sounded it out.  “God Loves Tommy.”  
          “Good job, Tommy,” Mrs. Roberts said.  “You’re quite a reader!”  
          Tommy looked down at his paper.  The words ‘God Loves Tommy’
    were inside a big heart.   Tommy had a terrible thought.  A horrible
    thought.  
          When Mrs. Roberts was at the other side of the big round table he
    whispered, “Patrick.”  
          Patrick looked up from his drawing.  
          “If my dad doesn’t like God, maybe God doesn’t like my dad.”
          Patrick’s eyes got big.  “That’s bad,” he whispered back.  “That’s really,
    really bad.”
          Mrs. Roberts asked Tommy to help with snack.  Tommy handed out
    little cups filled with goldfish crackers.  He didn’t feel hungry.

          The next Sunday, Tommy looked out the car window on the way to
    church.   He watched the people.  An old woman pulled weeds from her
    garden.  A man rode by on a bike.  Those people weren’t in church. Did
    God love them?  Dad was probably fixing stuff at his workbench.  Did God
    know Dad was missing church?
          When Tommy walked into Sunday school class, Patrick was already
    playing with the big plastic dinosaurs.  
          Patrick opened his mouth.  “Look,” Patrick said.  
          Tommy saw a very loose tooth.  
          “I can point it like a fang!” Patrick stuck his finger in his mouth and
    pushed the loose tooth straight out.  
          “That rocks,” Tommy said.  Tommy pulled on his own teeth.  They
    wouldn't budge.
          “Time for class boys,” Mrs. Roberts said.  
          The girls were already sitting at the big round table.   
          Tommy sat next to Patrick.  
          Mrs. Roberts read a story about flowers, and how God loves flowers.  
    After the story, Mrs. Roberts gave each kid a piece of paper.  
          The paper had a big flower on it.  
          “If God loves flowers,” Mrs. Roberts said.  “Imagine how much he loves
    you.  Please color the flower petals and draw a nice picture of yourself in
    the middle of the flower.”
          Tommy colored all the petals of his flower.  He used his favorite colors,
    red and blue. But the inside of his flower stayed empty.  
          Tommy didn’t want to be in God’s flower if Dad couldn’t be there.
          Mrs. Roberts walked around the table and looked at each kid’s
    picture.     She stopped next to Patrick.   Patrick had given himself green
    fangs and red ears.  “I bet God even loves you with fangs, Patrick,” she
    said.   
          Tommy wanted to ask.   If God liked Patrick with fangs, what about
    Dad?  Tommy raised his hand.
          “Yes, Tommy,” said Mrs. Roberts.
          “Does God love everyone?  I mean does God love…” he looked around
    for something God might love.  There was a painting of a white bird on the
    wall.  “Does God love birds?”
          “Yes, Tommy,” Mrs. Roberts answered.  “God loves all creation, that
    means everything that’s alive.”
          Patrick raised he hand.   “Does God love slugs?”  
          Mrs. Roberts crossed her arms and looked down at Patrick.  Then she
    smiled all the way up to her eyes.  “You know Patrick,” she said.  “I bet God
    even loves slugs.”
          “Wow,” said Tommy.  “You’ve got to have a lot of love to love a slug.”
          Tommy looked down at his flower.  The circle in the middle was big.  
    “Guess what,” Tommy said to Patrick.
          “What?” Patrick asked.
          “If God loves flowers, birds and slugs, I bet he loves my dad too.”
          “Is your dad like a slug?” Patrick asked.
          “No-o!” Tommy said.  “My dad is great.  He can fix anything.  I bet God
    really loves him.”
          Tommy picked up his crayon and started drawing in the circle of the
    flower.  There was just enough room.  He drew Mom, Dad, and Tommy, all
    together in God’s flower.

                                            THE END