Robert Fulgham tells the story about a 3-year old girl who used a whole roll of gold wrapping paper to wrap a Christmas gift. Her father was very angry that she had wasted all that paper.

On Christmas morning, the little girl brought the gift to her father and said, "This is for you, Daddy."

Needless to say, the father was a little embarrassed by his actions the previous day, however, when he opened the box it was empty and he yelled, "Don't you know that when you give someone a present, there's supposed to be something inside of it?"

With tears in her eyes, the little girl said, "Oh, Daddy, it's not empty. I blew kisses into the box. All for you, Daddy." Again, the father was embarrassed, and as he put his arms around his little girl, he asked for her forgiveness. That gold box became more precious as the years went by. Whenever he found himself discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

In a sense, each of us has a gold container filled with the love and good wishes of those who love and care about us. When life gets us down throughout this New Year, perhaps we could go to that imaginary box and let the love and good wishes encourage and uphold us through those difficult times. It's worth a try!