The Picture
I sat down to read the
paper after a hard day
When my little boy came in and wanted me to play.
I took a picture of a house from a magazine
Cut it into nine pieces and said, “tape it back for me”.
Barely five minutes had
gone by
And standing there in front of me was my little guy
Saying “Daddy here’s your picture come outside with me.
I found something in the yard that I want you to see”.
I said, “in a little while,
I want to read some more”.
And I took a picture of the world and cut it like before
But this time I cut it smaller . . . 50 pieces in all.
Then looked to see what movies were showing at the mall.
Ten minutes later there
stood my little man
With the completed picture right there in his hand.
I said. "Son, how did you do that? I’m absolutely amazed.
I cut the picture so small I thought it would take all day".
He said “Dad, it was easy,
you see.
On the back of the world was a picture of a boy just like me.
I put the boy together. That’s all I had to do.
You put the boy together right and the world comes out right too.”
He had no idea what he had
just said
But it meant more to me that anything I’d ever read.
I threw down the paper, realized what I had done
Got up off my chair and wrapped my arms around my son.
We went into the back yard
... into his world of play
Something I now try to do each and every day.
For me it’s one of the most enjoyable things I get to do.
If you put the boy together right the world comes out right too.
Copyright, 1996 by Tim Rand Inspired by a story told by Coach Lou Holtz.