There was once a little boy named Tommy. Tommy was not a big, strong, handsome boy. He was very thin. His family was very poor. So Tommy often went to bed hungry because there wasn't enough to eat.
He had rather colorless pale hair and a very pale face. But he did have a lovely smile that showed in his eyes as well as on his lips. Everybody liked Tommy because of that lovely, smiling way of his when he talked and played with his friends.
His teacher liked him, too. She always had a kind word for him. Often she asked him to stay after school for a little treat of some kind in the way of a cookie, or an orange. She hoped it would build him up a bit.
Tommy loved his teacher very much. He wished he could give her something to show his love. But he had no money to buy a gift. What was he to do?
He began thinking very hard. These are the thoughts he had:
"Love makes me feel happy. It makes me want to do something nice, to give something nice to the one I love. Love is a warm feeling about someone.
"Warmth makes me think of a fire on the hearth. Fire is a warm, happy, rosy glow."
And that's how Tommy began to think about a rose for the teacher he loved!
But how and where to get one was something else. At that point he remembered what his mother had once told him. She had said, "God loves all of his creatures. Even the littlest bird is important to Him."
And that's how Tommy remembered to ask God to help him!
