Sprinkles & Blessings

Justin couldn’t wait for dinner. His parents said they had a gift for him before he started school next week. His mom called it a blessing, but Justin wasn’t sure what that meant.

Justin ran next door to get his best friend, Jessie. Jessie heard him coming, so she opened the door before he even got a chance to knock.

“You ready?” she asked. They told Jessie’s mom good-bye and headed out the door to spend the rest of the day with Jessie’s cousins down the road.

“Perfect,” said Jessie’s mom after the kids had gone. “Now I can get everything ready for tonight.”

She grabbed the package of balloons she bought and went next door to help her friend Kristi, Justin’s mom, set everything up at her house. The two moms worked together in the kitchen, chatting and laughing.

Kristi baked a cake and spread creamy chocolate frosting all over it. “How’s that, Bev?” she asked Jessie’s mom.

“Umm. How about some sprinkles?” Bev replied as she dipped her finger into the frosting bowl for a taste. “Mmm. This frosting is so yummy!”

“Why, thank—ahh!” Kristi gasped. All the sprinkles had suddenly swooshed out of the bottle and landed in a pile on top of the lovely chocolate frosting!

“Oh no! What happened?” asked Bev.

“I thought there was a sprinkle lid with little holes on top of this bottle. But there wasn’t. Oops!” Kristi explained.

The two of them stared at the cake. Then they looked at each other and started to laugh. “Wow! That’s going to be a very sweet, crunchy cake. But you know what? The kids will love it!”

“All right then,” decided Kristi, “help me scrape some sprinkles off the top, and we’ll spread the rest around.”

Bev and Kristi were working on fixing the sprinkles when Justin’s dad walked in. He stopped and stared. “What are you two up to? Usually we tell the kids to keep their fingers out of the cake,” he said with a big grin.

“Oh, hush, Tim,” said Kristi. “We got too many sprinkles, and we’re trying to spread them around.” Kristi reached up with her chocolatey sprinkle fingers and swiped them across her husband’s chin before he could jump out of the way.

“Ah! You got me all messy,” he laughed.

“Well, you asked for it,” said Bev with a wink.

“Hey, that’s not bad,” said Tim as he licked frosting off his face.

Finally, everything was ready for the party. Jessie’s family came over to Justin’s house for dinner. They ate piggies-in-a-blanket, which were really hot dogs rolled up in a yummy crust. After dinner, everyone moved to the living room. Justin’s mom and dad handed him a small box wrapped in dinosaur wrapping paper and tied with a big, blue bow.

“Is this the blessing?” Justin asked.

“Yes,” said his dad.

“And for you, Jessie,” said her mom as she held out a gift to Jessie. It was the same size and shape as Justin’s, but hers was wrapped in pink flowered paper.

“Thank you!” Jessie exclaimed as she gazed at the bright pink bow on top.

“OK, kids. Are you ready?” asked Jessie’s dad. “On the count of three, open up your gifts. One, two, three!”

Justin tore the paper off in one big piece while Jessie gently pried the tape off one end and slid the gift out.

They both opened their boxes and saw a beautiful new Bible. “Hey, it has my name on it!” Justin rubbed his finger over the fancy gold writing. “Justin Michael Peterson,” he read.

“Ooh, that’s nice, Justin,” Jessie said. “Yours is dark blue. But guess what—mine is light purple!”

Jessie gently turned her new Bible around in her hands. She noticed her name in the corner. “My name is written in silver, ‘Jessie Marie Andrews,’” she read proudly.

Justin opened his Bible. “Look, here’s a picture of Jesus in the manger!”

“And I found the picture of Noah’s Ark, see?” exclaimed Jessie.

“Wow! These are neat. Thank you,” they told their parents.

“Well, we really hope you’ll take good care of them. But most of all we want you to read them and use them,” said Justin’s dad.

“Yes, Justin. Dad and I want to bless you with the most important gift we could give you, God’s Word,” said his mom.

“You’ll both be starting school next week, and there will be all kinds of great things you’ll learn,” Jessie’s dad explained. “And there might be some things you have questions about.”

“That’s why we gave you these Bibles,” Jessie’s mom added. “God’s Word can help you answer those questions because it always tells us the truth.”

“So, kids,” said Jessie’s dad. “As your parents, we want to give you a blessing as you start school. We know if you love Jesus and obey him, you will do well. Don’t be afraid to do what’s right. Your Bible will help you know how to do that. It’s the greatest blessing we can give you.”

“Thanks, Mom! Thanks, Dad!” Justin and Jessie gave their parents big hugs.

“Now, who’s ready for super-duper chocolate sprinkle cake?” asked Justin’s dad. “It’s really good—Mom gave me a taste of the frosting!”