Hall cleared her voice and began, "This poem was apart of my devotion this morning. It has rhythm and rhyme, and has an encouraging message. The poem is The Race by Dr. D.H.Groberg. It is about a little boy running in a race with several other children. As the boy ran, his father watched in the stands. The boy ran hard, and desired to be the first child to cross the finish line. He wanted to make his father proud. Three times during the race the little boy fell to the ground. Each time he fell, he looked at his father. His father eyes urged him to continue the race. The boy picked himself up three times, and continued to run. He crossed the finish line in last place. The boy was upset, because he felt as if he let his father down. After the race, the father approached the boy and said, "To me, you won. You rose each time you fell." The boy then realized how proud his father was of him.
Hall continued, " Cass you probably feel like you fell this morning, but you got up and continued to come today. You won this morning's race. Your Heavenly Father is proud of you, and so am I." Tears were running down Cass' face. She sniffed and said, " Thank you for sharing this poem with me. I guess the treasures of life are learned through hard work and tears." Hall hugged Cass again and said, "You're exactly right! Keep running your race." Cass turned to Hall, took a deep breath, and said, "Well, let's get into our classrooms, and do our best today." Hall smiled and began to walk with Cass into the elementary school building."We think The Race is an encouraging and inspirational poem that can be enjoyed by both children and adults. It is a positive way to introduce character education of positive traits." Heather Hall Coleman & Cassandra Lewis
If you are interested in reading The Race, click on the link below.
http://holyjoe.org/poetry/anon3.htm
Blogged by:
Heather Coleman & Cassandra Lewis
