Rosie’s Mountain

“One, two, three.” Six-year-old Rosie was picking dandelions. “Four, five, six,” she counted. This was Rosie’s special job, Mom had said, because they didn’t want the dandelions going to seed all over the lawn and garden. Mom had promised Rosie a sticker if she could pick one hundred.

“Twenty-one, twenty-two….” Rosie turned the corner of the house and found big sister Irene weeding in the front flowerbed.

“It’s not time to play,” Irene stopped to frown at Rosie’s handful of bright dandelions, “There’s lots of work to do. Go to Mom and—”

“But,” Rosie began, “Mom said I could—”

But Irene didn’t listen. “Hurry now! Mom said she needed us to get the weeding done this afternoon. You can pick flowers later.”

Rosie turned quickly to hide the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. Irene didn’t understand! It just wasn’t fair!

She was hurrying towards the back porch when she heard Mom call. “Rosie, come here!” Rosie brushed the tears from her face and turned toward the garden where Mom was hoeing corn.

“Sit on my lap, dear. I want to tell you something,” Mom said, leaving her hoe to join Rosie on the grass.

“Some things are hard, aren’t they?” Mom asked, wrapping an arm around her.

Rosie could hardly keep back the tears when she nodded.

“It’s not only you,” Mom continued, “but each of us have to face hard things. Right?” Rosie nodded again. She knew that was true—only yesterday Cindy, her big brother Chad’s cat, had been run over by a car. That had been a very hard thing.

“Well, it’s like this.” Mom looked up over the pine trees that bordered the back fence—toward the purple hills in the distance. “We are climbing a mountain and each hard thing is like a rock to climb on. If you were climbing a hill and came to a big rock, what would happen if you climbed on top of it? Would you be higher up or lower down?”

“Higher up,” Rosie said, looking down at her fistful of drooping yellow flowers.

“And what if you thought that that rock was too high and too hard to climb, so you went the other way? Which way would you be going then?”

“Down, I guess.”

Mom smiled, “That’s right. So if something hard happens—like when Irene said you weren’t working and scolded you for it—think of it as part of the mountain you have to climb. We won’t get very far if we never climb the rocks, and Jesus has promised to help us if we ask Him. Besides, the top is the best place: there is treasure for you there, Rosie. Jesus tells us that.”

“Like the treasure in Heaven we read about this morning?” Rosie asked. The tears had disappeared now and she was imagining a tall mountain with rocks to climb.

“Yes,” Mom agreed, “And that is the best treasure of all, for it lasts forever.” She stood up and smiled down at Rosie, “Do you want to finish picking those dandelions for me? I see a big clump of them right over by the back porch.”

Soon Rosie’s hands were filled with yellow dandelions. It was not long before she called out, “Ninety-nine, one hundred. Oh, Mom, I got a hundred dandelions! May I get my sticker now?”

“At suppertime,” Mom answered, “but that will not be long.”

“What did you get a sticker for?” Daniel asked when they were washing up their hands for supper. He was eight and Rosie’s special buddy.

“Because I worked for Mom,” Rosie smiled in satisfaction.

“Oh,” teased Chad who was drying his hands nearby, “I see. That smiley-face sticker is to remind you to do your work cheerfully.”

“Nope,” She answered softly. “It’s to remember the mountain.”

Daniel heard her words and wanted to know, “What mountain?” And so Rosie told him about rock climbing and the treasure at the top.

“I see,” Daniel nodded thoughtfully as he slipped into his seat next to Chad. But when he looked at his plate he couldn’t help wrinkling his nose. It was potatoes with Swiss chard again—how he and Rosie disliked it! When Daniel lifted his head to look at her across the table he was surprised to see his sister’s little smile and wink. Well, of course—it was one of those rocks to climb! So Daniel winked back.

When Dad asked him to thank God for the food, Daniel managed a smile. “Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this food. In Jesus’ name, amen.” Swiss chard was still not on his favorite list, but maybe it was worth it for the treasure!