Little Tommy was five years old. He loved playing outside. But Tommy had one problem. Sometimes he was very mean. He often hurt animals, his grandparents, and others who made him mad. Tommy was like this because his stepmother had been very mean to him. Tommy´s grandma was always trying to help him understand, that he should not be mean. But Tommy didn’t listen. He got so bad; that he started being very mean to his grandma, and often did things to hurt the little puppies they had. Tommy lived with his grandparents, because his daddy lived far away and he couldn’t care for him right now. But Tommy sometimes was able to go and see his daddy. Tommy loved to see his daddy and hoped one day soon, his daddy would be able to come home.

Little Tommy could be such a sweet little boy, when he wanted to be. But then for no reason at all, Tommy could be very bad. One day he was outside playing, and his grandma went into the house to get him something to drink. While she was getting his drink, she heard a loud banging noise. She ran outside to see what he was doing. When grandma got outside, she couldn’t believe what Tommy had done!

Every year, the same birds came to grandma´s house and built a bird nest above her front porch. They had done the same thing this year. Tommy had watched the birds make their nest, so he knew there would be baby birds soon. The year before, when Tommy was just visiting at his grandparents, every chance Tommy got, he would throw things up at the tiny birds in the nest. Grandma had spanked him and told him not to hurt the baby birds. But one day, Tommy threw a rock at the nest. One of the little birds fell out of the nest onto the hard driveway. The little bird lay there not moving. Grandpa went over and picked up the little bird. It had died when it hit the hard driveway. Tommy didn’t say he was sorry, but he acted a little sad. Grandpa and Grandma hoped that Tommy had learned a valuable lesson that day, and wouldn´t ever hurt baby birds again.

Tommy was now six years old. Grandpa had put a tall pole in the yard this year, and hung a birdfeeder on it. This way, the mommy bird wouldn’t have to go far, to find feed for her babies, once they were born.

While Grandma was in the house baking sugar cookies, Tommy was being bad. He had pulled the big pole out of the ground. There was an awful banging noise, that grandma had heard before. Immediately, Grandma knew that Tommy was hitting the top of the porch, and she ran outside. Oh, Tommy, why have you done this?

Tommy had purposely knocked the eggs out of the bird nest. Three tiny bird eggs fell to the concrete and smashed open. In just a few seconds, Tommy had destroyed the nest and the eggs. The mommy and daddy bird flew up to the nest, time after time. They were very sad by what they saw. Now they wouldn’t have any baby birds to feed and teach how to fly when they got older. The mommy bird just kept flying up to the nest, then back to the ground. She just couldn’t believe that the eggs were gone! Grandma was very sad too, and Grandpa was very upset with Tommy. Finally after his grandma had talked with him and after she explained why he shouldn’t have done what he did, Tommy said he was sorry. But no matter what anyone said or did, the eggs were broken. Now, there would be no cute little baby birds. Chances are those birds would never come back to Tommy’s house.

Jesus watches over all the birds and animals. He knows when each one gets hurt or dies. He watches over us too, and is sad when we get hurt. He is also sad when we hurt the things that He has created. We should always be kind to people and animals, and do things that make Jesus smile. Jesus wants us to be good, but He also understands that sometimes we are bad.

And even though it makes Him sad, when we are naughty, He loves us even when we are bad. That is because, He knows that we aren´t perfect and sometimes we make mistakes. He is aware that sometimes, we all listen to the devil´s lies. And once in awhile, we do things that we should not do.

The devil is very bad and there is nothing good about the devil. So when you hear him whispering in your ear, telling you to be mean or to do something bad, don´t listen to the Devil! Just remember, that the devil is the bad guy. Jesus is good and He never does anything bad. When you get bad thoughts, remember that these thoughts come from the devil. He wants to hurt us, and he uses us to hurt others.

Anytime, you hear the Devil telling you to be bad, just say this out loud: "Jesus says, Devil you get away from me!" and the devil has to leave and so will the bad thoughts. Remember that Jesus is hundreds of times more powerful then the devil. The devil has to obey Jesus, and he has to leave you alone, when Jesus tells him to do so.

Every day when you climb out of bed, say a little prayer. Ask Jesus to allow you have a good day, and to put angels all about you to keep you safe. And, ask Him to help you to be good and not mean. Don´t forget to tell Jesus, that you love Him. He loves you more than anyone else ever could!

Tara Hart © 2002

This is a true story