A Box Full of Kisses

The story goes that some time ago， a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless， the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said， “This is for you， Daddy.”

The man was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction， but his anger flared again when he found out the box was empty. He yelled at her， stating， “Dont you know， when you give someone a present， there is supposed to be something inside？” The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and cried， “Oh， Daddy， its not empty at all. I blew kisses into the box. Theyre all for you， Daddy.”

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl， and he begged for her forgiveness. Only a short time later， an accident took the life of the child. It is also told that her father kept that gold box by his bed for many years and， whenever he was discouraged， he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

In a very real sense， each one of us， as humans beings， have been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children， family members， friends， and God. There is simply no other possession， anyone could hold， more precious than this.

有這樣一個故事，爸爸因為三歲的女兒浪費了一卷金色的包裝紙而懲罰了她。家里很缺錢，當孩子想要用包裝紙裝飾一個掛在圣誕樹上的盒子時，爸爸生氣了。然而，第二天早上小女孩把盒子作為禮物送給了爸爸，“這是給你的，爸爸。”

爸爸為自己之前的過激反應感到很尷尬，但是當他發現盒子是空的時候，他的怒火再一次燃燒了。他對女兒喊道，“難道你不知道給別人禮物的時候，里面應該放有東西嗎？”女孩抬頭看著父親，眼里含著淚水，“爸爸，盒子不是空的。我把吻放在了盒子里，都是給你的，爸爸。”

爸爸感動極了，他摟住女兒，懇請她的原諒。之后不久，一場事故奪走了小女孩的生命。據說，父親便將那個小金盒子放在床頭，一直陪伴著他的余生。無論何時他感到氣餒或者遇到難辦的事情時，他就會打開禮盒，取出一個假想的吻，記起漂亮女兒給予自己的特殊的愛。

從一個非常真實的意義上說，我們每個人都被贈予過一個無形的金色禮盒，那里面裝滿了來自子女，家人，朋友及上帝無條件的愛與吻。人們所能擁有的最珍貴的禮物莫過于此了。endprint