The Wemmicks were small wooden people.  Each of the wooden people was carved by a wood-carver called ELI.

    Now there were all kinds of Wemmicks: tall ones, fat ones, short ones, thin ones, big-nosed Wemmicks, small-nosed Wemmicks.   All sizes and shapes of Wemmicks lived in the village.

     All day, every day, Wemmicks did the same thing.   They gave each other stickers.
Each Wemmick had a box of gold star stickers and a box of grey dot stickers, and up and down the streets all over the village Wemmicks would be seen sticking stars or dots on one another.

    The pretty Wemmicks, the ones with smooth wood, fine paint and a nice shape, they always got stars.   The ones that could sing well, the ones that could speak well or tell jokes, the ones that dressed well, they got stars too.  If the wood was rough, if the paint was chipped, well the other Wemmicks gave them dots.  The talented ones always got stars and sometimes Wemmicks had so many stars people would give them stars just because they had so many.   Sometimes Wemmicks with many stars felt so good about themselves that when they saw their own stars they would do something great and get another star.

    There were, though, other Wemmicks.   A Wemmick named Punchinello was one of these.   He wasn't as talented or gifted as the other Wemmicks, and to be honest he wasn't so much to look at either.   People put grey dots on him all the time.  He would try to jump high .... and he would fall.   He would try to skip over a pond and he would fall in the water.   People would give him a dot. He'd try to explain why he made a mess of things .... and he would mess up telling people why and they would , give him another dot and so finally Punchinello just hated himself so much that he didn't even want to go outside any more.

    If he did go out he hung around with other Wemmicks that were also covered with grey dots.  People would see him on the street and say, "He deserves dots," and they would give him a grey dot just because he had so many.  They would say, "He's not a good wooden person," and Punchinello would agree and say, "I am not a good wooden person at all."

    One day Punchinello met a female Wemmick and her name was Lucia.  The interesting about her was that she had no dots and no stars. She was just wooden.  It wasn't that people didn't try to give her stickers, it's that the stickers simply wouldn't stick.   Some admired Lucia for having no dots and because of that they would run up and give her a star...... but it would fall off.   Some would look down on her for having no stars and they would come up to her and give her a dot.   That wouldn't stick either, and when he saw this Punchinello thought, "That's the way it really should be.   I don't want anyone's dots!" so he asked the stickerless girl-Wemmick how she did it and she said, "Well, I go to see ELI every morning.   You know, ELI, the wood carver.   ELI, the One who made us.  You should go and do the same thing.  In fact I told ELI about you and he's waiting for you."

    Punchinello was horrified and he was sure ELI would never want to see him; but finally he got up the courage and went to the wood-carver's shop.

    The wood-carver was overjoyed to see him and said he'd been waiting for Punchinello for a very long time.  He looked at Punchinello and said, "It looks like they really gave you a lot of bad marks, doesn't it?"    Punchinello tried to apologize and said, "Yes, I'm really sorry."  He began to make excuses for the many dots all over him, but the wood-carver said, very gently, "You don't have to justify yourself to Me, child.   I don't care what the other Wemmicks think.   Who are they to give you either dots or stars?   They are Wemmicks, just like you.   What they think doesn't matter, Punchinello.     All that matters is what I think..... ;   and I think you're pretty special."

    Punchinello laughed and said, "Who, me? Special?! I can't walk fast.  I can't jump.   I can't sing.   My paint is peeling and my......"    "Punchinello! Punchinello!" said ELI, looking at him, "You are special!   You are very, very special to Me because you are Mine.   That's all that matters to me.  I made you.   Every day I have been hoping that you would come and talk to Me."

    Then Punchinello said,"I just came because I met this Wemmick who had no dots and she told me about you..... ; and I would like to be like her.  Why don't the stickers stick on her?"    ELI replied, "The stickers don't stick because she decided that what I think is more important than what others think.  The stickers only stick if you let them. The stickers only stick if they matter to you.  The more you trust in My love, the less you'll care about the stickers."

    Punchinello said, "I'm not sure that I understand."     "You will," replied ELI, "but it will take time.   You've got a lot of marks on you , but for now just come and talk to Me every day and let Me remind you how much I love you."

    The wood-carver took Punchinello off the workbench and put him down on the floor.   Then he said, "Remember, you are SPECIAL because I made you...., and I do not make mistakes no matter what you or anyone else may think."

    Punchinello walked away and didn't stop or look back, but in his heart he thought, "I think he really means it."

    When he thought that, one of the dots fell off.