“Kindness Begins with Me,” Friend, Dec. 1997, 16
Kindness Begins with Me
And be ye kind one to another (Eph. 4:32).
Christmas was coming, and the first grade class of Mrs. Blackhurst and Mrs. Saunders at Barratt Elementary in American Fork, Utah, had really looked forward to making gingerbread houses. Best friends Jessica and Brooke were in the class together. When the long-awaited day arrived, each carefully and lovingly decorated her gingerbread house with candies and icing. They were really pleased with their finished creations.
After school, they could hardly wait to take their treasured gingerbread houses home to show their families. As they walked down the hall, Brooke’s gingerbread house slipped off its plate and fell to the ground. It splattered all over the floor of the school. Heartbroken, she and Jessica picked up the pieces and continued their walk home.
At home, Jessica cried and cried because she didn’t know how to help her friend feel better. Then Mom suggested, “Why don’t you give her your gingerbread house?” Jessica thought about it and decided that even though she loved her gingerbread house, that’s what she would do.
She took it to Brooke’s house and gave it to her. Brooke stopped crying and asked Jessica if she wanted to stay and play. The girls shared the broken gingerbread house, and they both felt happy. Brooke felt good inside to know that she had a true friend.
Later, Brooke’s dad told Jessica that her sacrifice was the most Christlike thing he had seen all season. Jessica said that she felt good and that she learned that if you do Christlike things, you will feel happy too.