December’s KIDstuff

by Kathy Scherrer, Kid’s Quest Parent

The KIDstuff crew delivered another high energy, entertaining segment on Sunday, December 6th. The message this month was not only about Christmas, but it was also about the virtue of the month, which is compassion. The cast presented a rendering of the Gift of the Magi story, however there was a unique twist. In the usual story, there are two characters that deeply desire giving a loved one a very special gift to demonstrate how much love and appreciation is felt for the recipient. In this rendition, there was a third character with the ability to remedy the sacrifice shown between the two main characters.
The girl in this story carried a prized orchid everywhere she went. The boy had a prized collection of comic books, but lacked the very first book in the series. He sold his collection to buy a special lamp for growing plants in the winter, while the girl sold her plant to buy the rare comic book to complete her friend’s collection. The Grandpa, who watched the sacrifice of these two friends for each other, sacrificed his own funds to buy both the orchid and the comic book collection so that the boy and girl could continue to take pleasure in the things that brought them joy.
I liked this twist because I always felt a sense of disappointment for the characters in the original version of the story because they received gifts that could not be fully enjoyed without the items that were sacrificed in the first place. At the end of this play, the Grandpa allowed the friends to demonstrate their love for each other and was able to demonstrate his own love for them as well. We were reminded of the sacrifice God made for us by giving us his one and only Son, as well as Jesus’ sacrifice of being nailed to the cross, all for our redemption.
As a parent, I love moments when our children allow these messages to sink in and they have a chance to grasp how truly blessed we are. Children cannot imagine their parents sacrificing them, and parents most likely struggle with the idea of sacrificing a child for a cause. Yet that is exactly what God did so that He could have ALL of His children back with him in Heaven. The children in the audience were being entertained with the skits, music, and dancing, while the adults were reminded of the deeper message. Just like the KIDstuff tagline says, “Its where kids bring their parents to learn.”