It was a beautiful day in Fairwood Forest, the warmth of the sun peeking through the curtains tickled Suzanne Bear’s face causing her to roll over. The sound of Mrs. Bear singing could be heard downstairs along with the clanking of pots and pans as she made breakfast.
The smell of fresh pancakes crept up the stairs invading Suzanne’s dreams, dragging her slowly from her dreams.  Her brother Gladly Bear came running in her room and shook her.

“Wake up Snoozy Suzy!  Mom has breakfast ready and the pancakes are getting cold”, laughed Gladly.

“OK, OK, I’m up”, grumbled Suzanne.

Together they bounced down the stairs to find a humongous stack of pancakes waiting for them in the center of the table.  Next to the pancakes were a bowl of fresh berries and a jar of honey.  Mr. Bear set a jug of clear sparkling spring water on the other side of the pancakes and sat down at the table next to Mrs. Bear.

Mr. Bear said the blessing and then they started their meal.  Gladly took a stack of pancakes smothering them in golden honey and sprinkling juicy red raspberries on top.  Suzanne however placed her berries between each layer of pancakes and then dumped the thick rich honey over the whole stack creating a lake of the golden liquid around the bottom layer.

As they were finishing their meal Mrs. Bear said, “Gladly, Suzanne, Miss Rosie is coming over to have dinner with us tonight.  Your father is heading down to the stream after breakfast to catch us some fish.  I would like you two to gather some more honey so I can bake honey muffins for dinner.”

So Gladly and Suzanne grabbed their little red buckets and went out to gather some honey for their mother.  They went to field and watched the bees as they danced from flower to flower.  Following the bees to an old knotted oak tree, they discovered a large hole in one the knots where the bees were entering.

Gladly took his bucket and climbed up to the hole. Reaching in, he scooped out the thick honey into his bucket.  When his bucket was full, Gladly climbed down to Suzanne.  He handed her his bucket, then took hers and climbed back up to the hole.

While he was filling Suzanne’s bucket, a bee flew down to bottom of the tree and buzzed around Suzanne.  Fearfully she ducked down under the bee and backed against the tree.  The bee followed her and landed right in the middle of her nose.

Scrunching up her face, she blew from the side of her mouth at her nose. Harder and harder she blew, but that darn bee would just not move.  Finally out of desperation she swatted at the bee with her paw.  She managed to knock the bee off of her nose, but as it was leaving it stung her.

Ow! Ow! Ow! The stinger hurt so much, it felt like a shard fire sticking in poor little Suzanne’s nose.  Tears welled up in her eyes and Suzanne began to cry.  Gladly hearing her cry climbed down the tree to see what was wrong.

Edwin Buzzard was walking through the forest and heard Suzanne’s wailing.  He came over to see what the noise was all about.  When he saw Suzanne sitting there crying, he began laugh and tease her.

“Look at the little baby”, sneered Edwin. “Crying her eyes out over some little boo boo, did you fall down and hurt your wittle knees?”

Suzanne got angry when she heard this and wanted to hit Edwin so he would leave her alone.  But Gladly stopped her, “Remember what Miss Rosie told us.  We should forgive people, let’s take our honey home and forget about Edwin.”

So Gladly and Suzanne picked up their buckets and headed back towards home.  Edwin Buzzard followed them, teasing Suzanne and Gladly.  But when they paid no attention to him, it was no longer fun and he left them.

Miss Rosie the Wise Old Owl was there talking with their mother when they returned home.  She looked at Suzanne’s nose and made appropriate tsk sounds while Mrs. Bear spread a cool soothing ointment on Suzanne’s injury.

“Miss Rosie, the bee hurt me so much it made me cry,” sniffled Suzanne.  “Then that mean old Edwin Buzzard started picking on me, he made me so mad.  Why I just wanted run over to him and yell at him or hit him.  But then Gladly reminded me how Jesus would want us to forgive people so we left Edwin and came home.”

“That’s right Suzanne,” said Miss Rosie. “In fact Jesus had nine guidelines he gave people.  They are called the beatitudes.  They tell us how to treat others and how we should act.  Let me tell you about them. I will tell you what he said and explain it as I go along.

Jesus was teaching in Galilee and everybody was coming to see him, bringing sick people to be healed.  Why there were great big crowds following him.  Well one day he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

This is what he taught them:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

In other words trust in God, he will supply all your needs.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Share the joys and sorrows of others.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Be gentle with others.  Don’t try to get your way by bullying.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Do the right things. Make sure people are treated the right way.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Forgive others and ask others for their forgiveness.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God

.Be faithful to God and follow God’s ways.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Bring people together, encourage others to work together instead of fighting.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

In difficult times trust in God, keep following Him.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

When the bad people pick on you for following God, be happy because your reward in heaven will increase because of this.

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Miss Rosie found this story in Matthew 5:1-16

Once upon a time in the great big forest, there lived a couple of bears.  Now Mrs. Bear was sad, because she and Mr. Bear had no children.  Mr. Bear loved Mrs. Bear very much, and tried to make her happy.  He brought her the sweetest honey from the hives, and lovely flowers from the fields.   But Mrs. Bear remained sad and this made Mr. Bear sad too.

Then one day, a joyous event happened, Mrs. Bear had a little baby bear.  Mrs. Bear was so happy to have a baby; she had waited so long for this child.  She was so pleased, that she named her little baby Gladly Bear.

Gladly was a beautiful little bear, his fur was thick and brown.  His teeth were white and sharp, and his eyes were round and brown.  There was only one problem, Gladly’s eyes would not look straight ahead.  Yes poor Gladly was cross eyed.

When Mr. Bear came home and saw Gladly’s eyes, he was upset.   How could he have such a poor child, he was not perfect.  Yet when Gladly cuddled up to him, the love he had for his son welled up inside him and poured out.  Yes even with his eyes, Gladly was perfect to Mr. Bear.

As Gladly grew, he often went out in the forest to play.  There he met the other animal children, but because of his eyes they would not play with poor Gladly.  They laughed at him, called him mean names, threw dirt at Gladly and chased him away.  The other children were not nice.

But one child, Benjamin Squirrel did not chase Gladly or call him names.  Poor Benjamin was also picked on by the other children for he had large buck teeth.  He knew how poor Gladly felt and joined him to play.  Gladly and Benjamin quickly became close friends, and played together every day.

One day while they were playing together, Gladly and Benjamin came across the other animals playing a game.  They asked them if they could join in the game, but the other animals started calling them mean names.  Then the other animals started to throw dirt at them and chased them away.  Gladly and Benjamin were so upset that they ran crying into the forest, soon becoming lost.

As they wandered in the forest, they came across Rosie the Wise Old Owl.  “What is wrong, why are you crying little ones?” asked Rosie.

“The other animals are making fun of us and calling us names”, replied Benjamin.

“They said we are ugly and funny looking”, cried Gladly, “they don’t want to play with us and chase us away.”

“Why there is nothing wrong you”, said Rosie.  “Don’t you know that you are both special to God?  In fact God made you just the way you are and He knows how special you are.  God loves you so much he sent His own Son down to earth for you.

Everybody does bad things, this is called sin.  Sin keeps us away from God because He can not be around it.  This makes God sad, because He wants to be with us.   But God sent us Jesus His son to help us get rid of sin.  He took all of our sins and put them on Jesus.  Jesus died for our sins so we can be with God.  So now when God looks at us, He sees Jesus.

“Now”, said Miss Rosie, “it is getting late.  You children better run on home before your parents start worrying about you.”

“But we can’t go home”, cried Benjamin. “We got lost running away from the other animals and don’t know where we are.”

“Well I guess I will just have to show you the way home then”, said Miss Rosie. And she started down the path, leading Gladly and Benjamin back to their homes.  Soon they saw the lights shining happily through the windows of their homes and ran on ahead.

After that, Benjamin and Gladly spent many days visiting Miss Rosie.  She told them many stories about Jesus and how he loved them.  One day, Gladly stomped in to visit Miss Rosie looking upset.

“Why Gladly Bear” said Miss Rosie.  “What on the earth is the matter with you?  You look very angry.”

“It’s those mean kids”, sniffed Gladly.  “They have been calling me names again and throwing dirt at me.  I hate them, they are not nice.”

“But Gladly”, said Miss Rosie. “Remember what I was telling you about Jesus.  He would want you to forgive those kids, and to pray for them.  Now give me a smile, and we will pray for them now.”  So Gladly and Miss Rosie prayed for the mean kids, asking Jesus to help them learn how to be good.  Gladly’s heart felt much lighter after he forgave the mean kids.

A few days later, Gladly went over to meet Benjamin to play.  Benjamin’s mother told them to be careful while playing, for Man had been sighted in the forest.  Benjamin wanted to have a race, but Gladly wanted to play Hide and Seek.  So they ran off to their favorite clearing where they would have plenty of room to do both.

Gladly smelled a strange smell as they came near their favorite clearing,.  Cautiously they crept up to their clearing, peering out through the bushes.  There they saw Man.  Man had built cages of wood and ropes, and had locked the other kids in the cages.

“Benjamin”, said Gladly.  “We must do something.   We can not leave the other kids with Man.  Man will hurt them and do mean things to them.”

“But Gladly”, said Benjamin.  “They were mean to us, why should we help them.”

“Remember that Jesus helped us”, said Gladly.  “He would want us to forgive them and help them also.  I will keep Man busy, while you chew the ropes and free the others.”

So standing on his rear legs, Gladly broke through the bushes running towards Man.  Fiercely he gave a mighty growl scaring Man, causing him to run out of the clearing.  Gladly followed him a little more, growling and roaring to keep Man running until he was out of the forest.

While Man was running away, Benjamin scurried over to the cages.  Using his impressive buck teeth, Benjamin chewed through the ropes on the cages.  As the ropes broke, the cages fell apart and the other kids were able to escape from them.

The other kids surrounded Gladly and Benjamin while cheering loudly.  Happily they thanked them for saving them from Man.  Slowly Hannah Rabbit walked up to Gladly and Benjamin.

“Thank you for saving us”, said Hannah.  “But why did you help us after we called you all those mean names, and threw dirt at you?”

“Miss Rosie the wise old owl told us about Jesus”, replied Gladly.  “And he would want us to forgive you and help you.”

“Can we learn about this Jesus also?” asked Caitlin Otter.

“Of course”, replied Benjamin.  “Follow us and we will take you with us to Miss Rosie’s.  She can teach all more about Jesus.”

So the other kids followed Gladly and Benjamin, through the woods they went to Miss Rosie’s house.  Miss Rosie brought out a tray of cookies she had been baking and soon was telling all the children about Jesus and His love.

The other kids soon became good friends with Gladly and Benjamin. Every day they would go see Miss Rosie, where they would learn more about Jesus.