I have a friend—call her "Mary"—who tells me that her fondest memory is of the morning she broke her mother's "priceless" crystal.

Mary's mother was having a party. She had taken her fine crystal from the cupboard and carefully washed it and placed it on the table. The crystal represented the only valuable material possession her mother owned, and it was used only on special occasions.

In her rush to get things ready for her guests, Mary's mother said to her young daughter, "Would you please find some place that's not underfoot?" So Mary crawled underneath the table. Unfortunately, she kicked the leg of the table and the crystal crashed to the floor. "Crystal exploded like shrapnel," she recalls. She had destroyed the most elegant thing her mother possessed.

"I'm so sorry," the little girl sobbed. Her mother gathered her in her arms and whispered, "Don't cry, honey. You are far more valuable to me than mere crystal."

Children are indeed our most valuable possession, more precious than anything we could ever buy or earn. They are "a heritage from the Lord" and "a reward" (Psalm 127:3).

Do your children know how precious they are to you? Why not tell them today.
  — David H. Roper