Summary: "What do you have in there, Tammy?" Sarah asked. Tammy smiled as she placed a small cardboard box in her school desk. "An art project Grandma helped me with at home," she replied. "I told Mrs. Sims about it, and she said to bring it in to show the class. You'll see it pretty soon." When Mrs. Sims asked her to come up and share the project, Tammy took the box out of her desk, carried it to the front of the room, and set it on the table. She opened the lid and carefully lifted out an object. "This is a chrysalis," she said, holding it up. "I made it out of paper mache." "It sure is ugly!" one of the boys called out. "Well, they are ugly," replied Tammy, "but you haven't seen all of my project yet." She carefully opened the underside of the chrysalis and brought out a tiny, white and yellow, ceramic butterfly. "Hey! Cool! That's really pretty!" Daisy, a new class member, exclaimed. "Nice job, Tammy," Miss Sims approved after Tammy had explained how she made it. Tammy smiled as she returned to her seat. That afternoon Sarah and Tammy walked home together. "What do you think of the new girl in our class?" Sarah asked. "Daisy?" Tammy shrugged. "She seems pretty nice. I talked to her a little bit at recess." "She sure dresses funny," observed Sarah, "and those glasses she wears are a weird shape. They make her look goofy, don't you think?" Tammy frowned. "Well . . . sort of. But I guess it's like the lesson we had in Sunday school class last week. We learned that God cares about people's hearts, not the way they look on the outside. Remember? We talked about not judging people by their clothes or skin color or hair because those aren't the most important things." "I . . . ah, I forgot," murmured Sarah. "But you know what? Your art project is a reminder of that. The paper chrysalis isn't pretty, but the little butterfly inside it is." "Yeah," Tammy agreed, "just like in nature. A real chrysalis isn't pretty, but a beautiful butterfly develops inside it." Sarah grinned and nodded. "I'm gonna remember that lesson and look for what God sees instead of looking at what people wear," she said. How About You? How do you judge people? By their clothes? By how they fix their hair? That's not the way God judges, nor the way He wants you to judge others. When you meet new kids, talk with them and get to know them. Learn what hobbies enjoy, what they like and don't like, what things they value. Don't make hasty judgments. Today's Key Verse: Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. (John 7:24) Today's Key Thought: Don't judge by outer appearance
