Dear Friends, yes its me again… you little buddy Chester the Chipmunk. I have not written for some time so I thought I would share with you for some New Year holiday time reading - this backs up to this last Summer and I know you are wondering how will I tell you. Let's just say, it was great. I had a lot of fun this Summer and the gang all says Hi. My favorite part was last week before school started. I was selected to represent the Smoky Hollow Lake Chipmunks (it is an honor you know) and I got to attend Chipmunk Faith Camp. Although I really appreciated everything we got to do and learn, my favorite part was getting to meet and to hear King Charles speak (King Charles the Chipmunk is a very impressive leader for us chipmunks, did you know he negotiated a peace settlement for the Mouse Revolt of ’08 and he saved hundreds of chipmunks during the Hawk War of ’05 – ’07?). What I share with you now was initially a surprise for me – because I did not expect it so I will share it with you and I hope you appreciate it like I did. What happened was this. After the King gave us a motivational speech, he had time for questions and answers. I was nervous but wanted to ask him the following and I was glad I was able to. “King Charles, you have done a lot of great things for us chipmunks – can you tell us what was the most difficult?” He walked over and shook my paw and responded…
“Doing hard or dangerous things is not hard to do but at times are what we are called to do. I found when I was younger, I struggled just as I’m sure that you and all your friends do in your young age. What I found as being most difficult, was in learning and in growing my faith. What helped me was this story that my Mother shared with me when she was about your age and I’ll now share that story with you.” We all sat there and wondered… wow, what type of story will he tell us? He then continued. “One summer day my Mom was sneaking peeks into the various cabin windows when she saw the most beautiful Vase that she ever saw. The window was open so she scurried in and up to the Vase and much to her surprise, the vase said hello and thanked her for stopping in. My Mom asked him how he became such a beautiful vase. The vase then told her… when he was young, he was this blob of clay with no worries, just happy with how and who he was. Then the potter took him and started changing him by putting him on a wheel and spinning him round and round and all the time, pressing and pushing to make him into a new shape. He told my mother that it hurt to go through those pains and that he was just glad he survived that. It was then that he was now in the shape of a vase but was not sure why. He was then surprised when the potter put him into the kiln (a very hot fire) and he told my Mom that the heat was so bad, he just knew that was it for him. Just then, when he felt like he was about to explode from the heat, the potter took him out and let him cool down and wow did that feel so good. He said the next day the potter then picked him up and started painting him inside and out, with all these different colors and designs. So, he had a smile on because of that - but it was only short lived because he then found himself going back into the kiln. The fire started and the heat grew and grew and grew. He told my Mom that the heat was so bad, he cried for help, that he would do anything to get out of that trouble but all he could see… was that potter looking in at him. He thought… why was the potter silent, why was he not helping him? The fire got higher and the heat got hotter and it was so painful, the vase said he was about to give up when the potter then took him out of the kiln and set him on the ledge to cool off."
I was sorry to interrupt the king’s story but I had to ask him… “Was he mad at all the bad things that happened to him?” The King smiled at me and then ended by saying the following “The vase was not mad at all the bad things that happened because the next day the potter put the vase up on a shelf in front of a mirror and he could see how strong and how beautiful he had become".
It was then that the vase told my mother… “we don’t start this life as God wants us, he uses our experiences, the hard times, the good times and the trials that unfold to mold us into what he wants us to become. Because it is not how we start our life but it is how we live it, how we pursue it and the faith that we learn and grow. When my mother then shard that story with me, I learned not to complain about the tribulations that I had and would have… it was a challenge to stop complaining and to appreciate the learning that I was going through”. The King said he thanks his mother for telling him that story because it changed his life. He then thanked us for our time and had to leave (Kings are real busy guys you know).
And you know what? I had to think a lot on what he shared with us and I realized it was not just a story and lesson for him, but one we all could learn from. I’ll close for now but I am thankful for all that I’m learning, that being - life is not just a journey but that it all is a blessing. It is how we deal with the good and the bad that shows the type of character we have and the faith we pursue. So thank you for reading my story. Have a great day! Your little buddy, Chester the Chipmunk.