If you aren't familiar with the story, it is about a small town where little wooden people named Wemmicks live. Each Wemmick is different, and they each have a box of these gold star stickers or black dot stickers, and they go around and stick gold star stickers on the ones that they think are beautiful or talented, and ones that seem to have little or no beauty or talents to them they stick the black dot stickers on them.
Well, there is this Wemmick named Punchinello and he has a ton of black dot stickers on him, and so he doesn't feel like he is worth much, and so he continues to receive these black dot stickers from others no matter what he does because he has so many black stickers on him. (sad right) So one day he meets a Wemmick that doesn't have any gold or black dot stickers on her.. some try to stick stickers on her but they wont stick. Punchinello is curious and asked her why and how no stickers stay on her? She answers by telling him that the stickers only stick if you let them, and that everyday she goes and visits with their Maker Eli. The man who made all the Wemmicks. Punchinello is so intrigued and wants to be like her, but he's not sure Eli, would even want to see him.
One day he decides to go visit Eli, and the man calls him by name "Punchinello! How good to see you, come and let me have a look at you." Punchinello was so surprised that the man knew his name.
Eli picks up Punchinello and says "looks like you have been given some bad marks." and Punchinello begins to tell him that he didn't mean to... but Eli says, "Oh you don't have to defend yourself to me, child. I don't care what the other Wemmicks think.... Who are they to give you stars or dots? They are all Wemmicks just like you. What they think doesn't matter... and He goes on to tell him how special he is and that he matters to him.
He had been hoping Punchinello would come to see him. He continues to tell him "The stickers only stick if you let them, the more you trust my love, the less you care about their stickers." He asks Punchinello to come and see him everyday so he can tell him how much he cares. Then one of Punchinello's dots fall to the ground.
We first started reading this book in about 2009 and its crazy how relevant it is in 2018 ha! With all of the social media available where you post something online and people give you a like, love, dislike, haha, wow, sad, or angry face. Anyone can post any comment on your feed about their opinion. Sometimes its hard not to care what other people think about you. If you don't get a lot of "likes" does that mean you're not likable?
Max Lucado was so inspired when he wrote this story, I believe the more we trust God's infinite love for us, and the more we "visit" him through prayer and drawing closer to him and our savior through studying of the scriptures, and serving those around us, the less we care about others opinions of us, and the more we only care about our Heavenly Father's love for us. His love is infinite, and doesn't depend on our outward appearance, or talents and abilities.
Sister Joy D. Jones said it perfectly in her talk Value beyond Measure. "Let me point out the need to differentiate between two critical words: Worth and Worthiness. They are not the same. Spiritual worth means to value ourselves that way Heavenly Father values us. Our worth was determined before we ever came o this earth. Worthiness is achieved through obedience. if we sin, we are less worthy, but we are never worth less! No matter what we always have worth in the eyes of our Heavenly Father."
President Russell M. Nelson Stated. "I promise you, that when you begin to catch even a glimpse of how your Heavenly Father sees you, and what he is counting on you to do for him, your life will never be the same."
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