Grace Drops
  • Home
  • About
  • Bereavement & Pastoral Care
    • Setting Goals to Get Through Grieving
    • Sunday Scaries: 10 Ideas
    • When Life Throws You Off Track, Build a Better One
    • Grace Drops Blog
  • Grace Drops Blog
  • Store
  • Resources
  • Contact Us
  • Grace Drops Blog
  • New Page
  • New Page

An Hour of Time

6/24/2015

Comments

 
Picture© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.
A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

“Daddy, may I ask you a question?”

“Yeah sure, what it is?” replied the man.

“Daddy, how much do you make an hour?”

“That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?” the man said angrily.

“I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?”

“If you must know, I make $50 an hour.”

“Oh,” the little boy replied, with his head down.

“Daddy, may I please borrow $25?”

The father was furious, “If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don’t work hard every day for such childish frivolities.”

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.

The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy’s questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $25.00 and he really didn’t ask for money very often the man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door.

“Are you asleep, son?” He asked.

“No daddy, I’m awake,” replied the boy.

“I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier” said the man. “It’s been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here’s the $25 you asked for.”

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. “Oh, thank you daddy!” he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.

The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again.

The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

“Why do you want more money if you already have some?” the father grumbled.

“Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,” the little boy replied.

“Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.”

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.

If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of hours. But the family and friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.
 

Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume 8 (2010).


Comments

    Author

    John Fitts is a retired hospital chaplain and a contributor & publisher of Grace Drops. John lives in Palm Harbor, Florida with his artist wife, Patty. 
    You can receieve Grace Drops in your email each week by signing up here.
    ​

    Sign up for Grace Drops

    Archives

    April 2020
    December 2019
    June 2019
    February 2019
    September 2018
    May 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    March 2016
    October 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012

    Categories

    All
    Adversity
    Anger
    Christmas
    Compassion
    Cooperation
    Death & Dying
    Devotional
    Empathy
    Empowerment
    Encouragement
    Endurance
    Enemies
    Ethics
    Excellence
    Expectations
    Faith
    Family
    Fear
    Forgiveness
    Freedom Vs. Restraint
    Friendship
    Generosity
    Goals
    Grace Drops
    Grace Drops
    Gratitude
    Higher Power
    Higher Power
    Honesty
    Hope
    Humility
    Judgment
    Laughter
    Leadership
    Life Lessons
    Listening
    Live In The Moment
    Love
    Loyalty
    Motivation
    Peace
    Positive Outlook
    Praise
    Prayer
    Responsibility
    Smile
    Struggle
    Success
    Tranquility
    Trust

    RSS Feed

    © This website, the images on the website, and all material found within this site are copyrighted.
    Any copying or reproducing in part or whole, without consent, is strictly prohibited.
     

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.