Lessons From a Juice Box

This morning while the kids ate their pancakes, I was doing the Mommy thing and opening up straws for their 100% fruit juice boxes. As I passed out the juice boxes, Evelyn started to make fun of Dade because his juice box was dented. "Your box is messed up Dade," she kept saying. Actually, I gave Dade the "messed up" juice box knowing the others would complain about it. I had to say a few times, "Evelyn the juice inside the dented box is yummy just like yours. Just because the outside is dented it doesn't mean the juice inside is bad." Hmmmmm. A reflection on life from a juice box. Dade proceeded to say, "Yes Evie, you can't judge a book by its cover."

Kids can be picky. They don't want the dented juice box or the bruised apple. Even though it may taste the same, they think it's worse because of flaws. In a culture so obsessed with how people look on the outside, I hope that this morning a little bit of compassion was consumed along with the juice. Maybe that's just wishful thinking, but I think some of life's lessons come along in odd ways. I know that at least Dade got it.