You are special - Max Lucado

In this charming village of colorful shops and cobblestone streets live the little wooden people known as Wemmicks. Their workshops are on a high hill where they are able to view the entire village from. Every of them look different, some with big nose, some with big eyes, some tall, some short, some wearing hats, some wearing jackets. But they are all carved by the same person and they all live in the same village.

All day, everyday, the whimsical Wemmicks go about town doing the same thing: they give each other stickers. Golden stars are awarded to the talented and clever, while the clumsy and less gifted receive nothing but gray dots. Some of them are strong, some are able to jump very well. Also, some are very clever and some can sing very well. Everyone will give these people stickers. Some of them have stickers all over their bodies! They will think of more good things to do so that they can earn more stickers. Those who don’t have any talents will receive a lot of gray dots.

Punchinello is covered with the dreaded gray stickers. Try as he might, he just can't seem to earn even one golden star. He wants to jump as high as his friends but will always end up falling on his bum. When he falls, people will rushed over to put gray dots on him. After some time, he has so many gray dots on him that he did not dare to go out. He is afraid of doing more wrong things and getting more gray dots.

One day, he meets a most unusual Wemmick and discovers that things can be different. She has no stickers or gray dots on her. Her name is Lucia. Punchinello thinks to himself, “I want to be like that too.” He asked Lucia how he can be like her.

She asked him to visit a woodcarver who stays at the top of the hill. When he takes his new friend’s advice and visits the extraordinary woodcarver something strange begins to happen to Punchinello. The woodcarver said to him, “I think you are special”. Punchinello said, “Me? Special? I don’t run fast, jump high. Why do you care about me?” He looked at him and said, “Because I made you, you are mine.” At that time, the gray dots from his body dropped to the ground one by one.