One day, there was a little girl. She was an unhappy little girl because other children were making fun of her.

"You're so ugly!", they'd say. "You smell funny!" You talk funny!" "You walk funny!" "You're too fat!" They'd knock her books out of her hand or trip her as she went by.

Every day, the little girl would go home from school, crying. "Mama," she'd beg, "Please don't send me to school tomorrow. I'm sick."

Mama would gently hold her little girl and whisper soothing words to her. "My little one," Mama would say, "Let me tell you a story.

"When God was creating the Heavens and the Earth, the time came when He was through with His work. He looked around and saw the beauty that He had made. He'd created all of the land and the air, the animals and the birds, the plants and the waters. Everything that you see, He made. He then realized He was lonely...He had no one to talk to. So, do you know what He did?"

"What?" the little girl asked, intrigued with what her Mama was saying.

"He was lonely, because there was no one that looked like Him! So, He made Man. He created Man in His image, out of the dirt. He also created Woman, so the Man would not be lonely like God felt He was."

"Wow," the little girl said. "But, Mama, why are some of us...different?"

"Well, Honey," Mama said, "God had to have had a sense of humor. We could not ALL be identical on the outside, because then no one would be able to tell us apart! We'd all look the same. So, God gave some of us Black skin, some of us Brown skin, some of us Yellow skin, some of us Red skin, and some of us White skin. Maybe He ran out of color...anyway, even though we all look different on the outside, on the inside, we are all the same. We have hearts...and minds...we all have red blood...we are created in God's image. We don't know what He looked like on the outside, but on the inside, we all know that He is God."

"Wow!," the little girl said. "But Mama, why do some of us walk funny? Like me?"

"Honey, some of us God made extra special. He knew that there would be people that didn't understand, and that they would say or do things to make us feel awful. God made some of us not be able to see or hear or talk too good, or walk or run real well. God understands us, even if we can't talk or hear or see or walk good. Why? So we could go directly to Him and talk to Him about how we're feeling. He will never turn us away from Him. All you need to do is pray and He will give you strength to get through any difficulty you are having."

"I think I understand, Mama...but why does my friend Roberto talk differently?"

"He is a special boy from another part of the world. That is the way they talk in his land. Just as if we were over there, visiting his country...we would be the funny sounding ones. Every child, every person, is from someplace different. In their land, they talk in a certain way. When they come here, they sound funny, but in time, they will learn to talk like us. That doesn't mean they will quit talking the way they were taught growing up, they will just learn to speak another language and become smarter."

The little girl went to bed; before she went to sleep, she asked God to help her with the children who teased her.

The next day, when the children started to tease the little girl, she thought about what her Mama had said, and remembered that God was always with her, standing beside her. She smiled to herself and thanked God that He was her Creator and her Friend.