Hello! My name is Ariel, which means ‘Lion of God.’ A strange name to give to a little Harvest Mouse you may think, but my Mummy and Daddy explained that you don’t have to be big or grown-up to be a Lion for God. You can still be strong and fearless for Him even though you are only small. We can tell other little ones about Jesus, and how much He loves us, and how much we love Him, can’t we? When we do this I’m sure our Heavenly Father looks down on us and smiles and says ‘ You see those little ones down there, they are only small, but to me they are as brave as the strongest Lion.’ I like to think of this when I try to tell the bigger animals my best story, and it gives me courage when they laugh at me. Sometimes they say ‘Be quiet, Ariel. You are of no importance. You are not even as big as a house mouse!’ Then I tell them I AM important, Very Important, and Special to Jesus. They stop laughing at me then, and some of them ask ‘Have you seen Jesus?’ Then I tell them my very best story.
It happened when I lived near the large cornfield not far from here. Would you like to hear it too? Good, I thought you would because you, too, are small, like me.
At the time, I was living with all my family in our nest which was under a very large thistle. You couldn’t see our nest if you just walked by as we were so well hidden, and this made it very cosy. On this special day my friends and I were at the edge of the cornfield watching a group of children playing with some brightly coloured marbles.
‘Aren’t they pretty’ said Naama. ‘They seem to sparkle in the sunshine.’
‘Yes, and it looks a good game, too’ agreed Joel.
‘Perhaps if they leave one behind we could play with it for a while’ said Amos hopefully.
‘I don’t know, they look rather heavy to me’ I said as I edged a little nearer to where they were playing.
So we sat quietly watching the children and we enjoyed their game almost as much as they did as they laughed and shouted with excitement.
‘Come on, I’ll race you to the top of those high corn stalks’ Amos said a few minutes later. ‘I’m tired of just watching, I want to play too’ and off he ran.
We all ran after him, each one of us wanting to be first to reach the top of the stalk.
Amos won, but Joel wasn’t pleased.
‘You started off first, Amos’ he said rather grumpily.
‘No, I didn’t’ Amos argued.
‘Yes, you did!’ said Naama.
‘Oh dear’ I thought. ‘There’s going to be an argument, and it will spoil everything.’
Just then we heard the angry voices of the children shouting at each other.
‘It seems to be a day for arguing’ I said, and we all laughed.
The children started laughing, too. ‘I think they must have heard us’ giggled Naama as we watched the children begin to play again quite happily.
‘I’ll race you to those nettles over there where the big stone is’ said Amos.
We all looked at each other!!
‘All right’ he giggled. ‘On the count of three - ONE, TWO, THREE’ and this time we all started together, laughing as we ran, so it wasn’t much of a race after all as we reached the nettles at the same time.
After that we played ‘See who can swing from stalk to stalk the quickest’ ‘Who can run up the swiftest’ and ‘Hide and Seek’ until we were hot and tired.
‘I’m going to rest’ I panted.
‘I think I’ll go home for something to drink’ said Amos.
‘Good idea’ the others agreed.
‘Aren’t you coming, Ariel?’ asked Naama.
‘No’ I answered. ‘I can’t be bothered to move, I’ll still be here when you come back.’
‘All right’ they shouted as they swiftly disappeared out of sight amongst the corn stalks.
I closed my eyes and rested. It was so warm and cosy in the field I think I would have fallen asleep had not the sound of voices roused me. I stood up to see what was going on, and coming towards me I saw a group of men and, believe it or not, they were arguing too!
I gave a great sigh ‘What a day for arguments’ I said to myself.
As they walked nearer I heard them saying ‘I’m the most important one in our group.’
‘No, you are not’ answered another, and they began to argue as to why each of them thought they were more important than the others!
I shook my head in amazement - ‘What a thing to argue over’ I thought.
Their Leader must have thought so too, as he stopped beside the group of children who, by now, had stopped playing. Reaching out his hand he brought one of the children into the middle of the arguing men. ‘Whoever welcomes this child in my Name, welcomes me’ He said. ‘And whoever welcomes me, welcomes the One who sent me.’
I gasped in amazement. ‘He is talking about our Heavenly Father’ I said. ‘It must be Jesus.’
I crept quietly nearer and nearer until I was right beside Him, and it was Jesus. Our Jesus, whom we loved!
‘He who is the least among you is really the greatest’ Jesus said. ‘Those who care for others and think of their needs before their own; those who are willing to serve others - yes, just like a servant - THEY are the really important people in my eyes. So don’t think so much of yourselves, think of others first.’
Then He hugged the little child and said ‘Go back to your playing little one’ and He smiled.
AND THEN JESUS SAW ME! I was trembling with excitement as He looked at me, then picked me up and whispered ‘You know what I mean, don’t you Ariel? Don’t let anyone try to tell you that you are not important just because you are small. It is what you do for Me, how much you love Me that counts. THAT is what makes a person really great, isn’t it?’
I nodded, I could hardly speak.
‘I love you, Jesus’ I managed to whisper.
‘I know you do, Ariel, and I love you too, as I love all people, and all creatures. Now you go and tell others how much I love them. That is your work for me’ and he gently put me back down on to the grass.
I stood for a moment until my legs stopped wobbling, and then I gave a great shout - ‘I’ve met Jesus! And I’ve talked with Him’ and I ran and ran for joy!
So that is what I try to do now, and that is why I’m writing this story - to let you know that if you love Jesus, and tell others about Him, then you are the most important and the greatest person in all the world to Him.
Elizabeth Aynsley ©

Luke 9 vs. 46 - 48.