Can you think of a time
You were the quickest at that mountain climb
If you started at the bottom of the mountain
Right after breakfast
Does the view from the top change
For someone who wasn’t the fastest?
What about when the person at the back of the line
Gets the same as you
Do you whine?
What do you think as the line leader?
Should they have been more like you, the speeder?
It is tough to work more or harder
And get the same reward
As someone who worked less or shorter
But have you ever stopped to wonder
Why that classmate of yours might be late
Or if they too, had someone for who they had to wait?
Maybe they had more to do
or more worries to care for
Maybe it wasn’t that they didn’t work hard
or they were just a bore
The point is
We don’t know their story
We only know ours
And we shouldn’t be so accusatory
I wonder if you can guess
Who might know the truth of it all
Of course you’re right
It’s God who has the insight
God knows you and me
From first to last and large to small
And God tells us that the first will be last
And the last will be first
Which can be hard for us to grasp
If you’re holding onto first place with a clasp
Sometimes worrying about who is in first place may not seem fair
It is not our burden to bear
God wants to care for all of us
But some of us need different things than others
And there is no need to make such a fuss
If you receive less than your sisters or brothers
It doesn’t mean those at the end of the line
Are any better than those who started at nine
It just means God will care for us all
Especially when you lose your place and fall
~ Erynne Devore, director of Children’s Ministry