Letter to a Little Princess
Dear Princess,
Have you ever said, “I’ll do that later,” or, “I don’t feel like it right now”? The later habit begins in a very simple way, but it needs to be stopped before it is too late.
One afternoon Princess Precious was thinking about all the things she would like to do, when little Joy skipped into the room.
“Oh, Precious! Would you untangle this thread? I need to sew my button back on,” she said.
Precious took the needle and thread from her sister, but her mind was on the picture she wanted to paint. Just as she began picking at the knot, a little thought popped into her head.
“You have been busy working all morning and it is time for a break,” little self-first whispered. “Just leave that tangled thread until later.” Now Precious hadn’t learned much about making her thoughts behave, so she listened with almost a smile.
Joy had disappeared and so Precious looked around for a place to put the tangled thread. Another naughty thought spoke up: “There is a nice basket in the top of your closet. If you put it by your lamp you will be sure to remember the thread later.” It sounded so good that Precious followed self-will’s suggestion at once.
So instead of untangling Joy’s thread, Precious began on her painting. It was of a darling little kitten playing with a ball of string. She was just adding some pink to the ears when the supper bell rang. Quickly Precious put her paints away and dumped out the cup of water.
“Oh, dear! The paint brush!” Precious said, as she was ready to dash down the stairs. Then she spotted her later basket. “I’ll do it after supper,” she told herself as she dropped the paint brush in beside the thread. But as things always happen, after supper there was something else to do, and Precious never even thought of looking in the later basket until bedtime. Then she was sleepy, and so she told herself she would do it first thing in the morning.
The next day many new things were added to Precious’ later basket. “This was such a good idea,” another little self-thought said, as she dropped in a pair of scissors that needed to be put away. It was also the easiest place to keep the shoes that Valiant wanted to have polished. Later she put a little note in the basket: “sweep the stairs,” because she was too busy to do it just then.
At first, Precious remembered to look in the basket every day or so. It wasn’t until a week later that the paintbrush was washed out, and that was only because Precious needed it again. But Joy’s tangled thread lay at the bottom of the pile, quite forgotten. Joy found a new needle and thread, and began to wonder whether her big sister could be trusted. For as the weeks went by, many more things went into Precious’ basket than ever came out again.
The first of the month was Palace Inspection Day, when the King himself came into each room to see how clean and orderly everything was. Inspection Day usually caught the lazy princesses off guard and brought a blush of shame to many faces. But Precious always had been careful to keep her room tidy and clean, and this day was no different. Even the later basket had been neatly dusted, and self-will said that it added a good effect to the room.
Strange to say, it was the basket that King Jesus stopped at first. “Is this your new collection?” He asked, very seriously.
“Not really,” Precious said with a little laugh. “It is my later basket, to keep things that I should do—I mean, that I don’t have time to do.” For some strange reason her bright little plan didn’t seem so wonderful when she told it to King Jesus.
He looked at her almost sadly as he repeated, “Things that you don’t have time to do. What sort of things are those?” He lifted up the basket and took out Valiant’s shoes. “Is that why the little fellow was wearing his boots to town last week?” Precious hung her head. Next came a book borrowed from Princess Patience, a dirty spoon, and the pair of scissors Precious had never been able to find.
“That’s where they went!” Precious exclaimed. King Jesus looked at her sharply and she blushed. When he began taking out the little scraps of paper she wished she could sink through the floor. One by one he read them aloud. “Wash dishes…write a thank-you note…sweep the stairs.” And at the bottom of the basket was the tangled thread.
“So you didn’t have time for these things?” King Jesus said, looking straight into her eyes. “Who told you that?”
Precious was nearly in tears. “I don’t know—it just seemed that—that it was best to do it later—and,” she swallowed hard, “I never remembered. I’m sorry, and I don’t want to put anything in there again!”
“And how shall you do that when you have such a habit of letting the self-thoughts have their way?” He asked, quietly. Precious looked up into His face and understood.
“Will You help me?” she asked humbly, “I don’t want to be selfish.”
“Then let’s get out the shoe polish,” He said, taking her hand. “It is not too late to shine Valiant’s shoes.”
With much love,
Aunt Faith
