I felt my heart swell with pride for what my son had done. I smiled at the teacher. “Thank you，” I said， reaching for Jonathan’s hand， “you’ve made my day.”
Later that evening， I began pulling weeds from around my lopsided azalea bush. As my mind wandered back to the love Jonathan showed the little girl， a biblical verse came to me： “Now these three remain： faith， hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” While my son had put love into practice， I had only felt anger.
I heard the familiar squeak of my husband’s brakes as he pulled into the drive. I snapped a small limb bristling with hot pink azaleas off the bush. I felt the seed of love that God planted in my family beginning to bloom once again in me. My husband’s eyes widened in surprise as I handed him the flowers.
“I love you，” I said.
我希望你們能從這個故事中明白，孩子是如何教我們做人的。使自己變得更好，原來是如此簡單。
當看到六歲的兒子折杜鵑的枝椏時，我的這一天就注定是晦澀的了。我趕到外麵時，他已經把枝椏折下來了。兒子問道：“我能把這枝杜鵑花帶到學校嗎？”我擺擺手示意他離開，然後背轉身，不讓他看到我眼中盈滿的淚水。我很愛惜那叢杜鵑。我撫摸著那根斷枝，仿佛是在默默地說：“對不起。”
本想早點跟丈夫訴說此事，可我一直在生氣，就沒有說。洗衣機漏出的水弄髒了我新買的油毯。如果前天晚上我讓他把洗衣機修理好時，他就照做，而不是隻想著和兒子喬納森下棋的話，現在也不會這樣。他覺得什麽才是重要的呢？我感到疑惑。喬納森走進廚房時，我還在擦著那些汙漬。“媽媽，早飯吃什麽？”我打開已經空了的冰箱說：“沒有穀類麵包了！”兒子嘴巴撅了起來。“果醬麵包怎麽樣啊？”我把果醬塗在麵包上遞給他。我為什麽如此生氣呢？我把丈夫的餐盤扔到了肥皂水裏。