Story:

Once upon a time there was family of birds that lived in a tree by a park. There was a Dada Bird, a Mama Bird, and the little birds: Duff, Puff, Gruff, Ruff & Tuff, and Fluff. One day, while playing fly-tag at the park, Duff noticed two small animals hopping about on the ground.

“Hey guys! Let’s go make some new friends,” he called to the other birds while pointing to the two creatures below. The rest of the little birds looked down excitedly and then took flight. When they landed near the two animals, Puff said, “Hello! My name is Puff. And these are my siblings: Duff, Gruff, Ruff, Tuff, and Fluff. What are your names?”

“Hi, my name is Squeeker,” replied one, “and I am a squirrel.”

“And I am Roscoe the Racoon,” added the other, “nice to meet you.”

Well it wasn’t long until the whole group was playing a new game of fly tag together. The little birds were impressed by Squeeker’s ability to jump from branch to branch. And Roscoe was quite good at rolling on the ground to escape being tagged.

After awhile, Duff felt a rumbling in his tummy. “I’m getting hungry,” he said. “Is anyone else ready for lunch?”

Squeaker jumped in the air and exclaimed, “I have an idea! How about we have a picnic? We can each bring something special and share it with one another.”

“Great idea!” replied Ruff. “I know just what to bring!” And with that, he flew off towards the woods. The other little birds looked at one another and then took flight after him, excited to find out where he was going. Roscoe and Squeaker looked at one another, shrugged their shoulders, and ran off in search of something to contribute to the picnic.

When Ruff finally landed on the branch of a tree, he looked up at all the leaves and branches above him. They were filled with nuts! The other little birds were not far behind and were all smiles when they realized what Ruff was after. Together they plucked the nuts from the tree and dropped them to the ground. Each nut made a tiny “thud” as it landed, which the little birds used to count how many they had picked.

When there was enough for everyone, Duff flew to the ground and, using his feet, worked on breaking the outer shell to get to the delicious nut inside. He poked and prodded. He scratched and clawed. Finally, he tried throwing one at the trunk of the tree. It ricocheted off the bark and hit Gruff on his wing.

“Hey!” he cried, “What was that for?”

“I’m sorry,” said Duff. “I’ve been trying to crack open these nuts, but I can’t seem to do it.”

Gruff smiled. “I’ve got this!” he exclaimed as he grabbed a nut and started to peck at it with his beak. However, despite his best efforts, Gruff was also unable to get past the shell. One by one, each little bird did their best to break through the hard outer shell of the nuts. No one was able to crack open even a single nut! Tired and discouraged, the little birds hung their heads and headed back towards the park.

Meanwhile, Squeaker had come across a small patch of carrots.

“Those look great!” he exclaimed. Squeaker then proceeded to pull one of the carrots out of the ground. He grabbed onto the leaves, positioned his feet firm on the ground, and pulled with all of his might. However, despite many tries and several positions, he was not able to get even one carrot out of the ground. He tried digging them out, but that was no use either. The ground was just too tough for his small claws to dig that deep. Defeated and discouraged, Squeaker hung his head and made his way back to the park.

Roscoe came upon a beautiful tree that was full of apples. He licked his lips and began his climb to the branches overhead. The higher he climbed, the more nervous he felt. When he looked down to the ground below, his stomach dropped. Roscoe’s hunger was replaced by fear of the long drop to the ground.

He decided to try to get at least one apple to make his efforts worth it and he crept out onto a branch. All was going well until Roscoe’s weight started to make the branch lean down towards the ground. Immediately he clutched the branch and whimpered in fear. Ever so slowly, Rosoce made his way back to the trunk of the tree and down to the ground. With a sigh of relief he looked up once again at those delicious apples.

“I guess we won’t be eating any of those today,” he said with sadness in his voice. Roscoe shrugged his shoulders and headed back to the park.

When he arrived, Squeaker and the little birds were sitting on a red and white checkered picnic blanket. They all looked so sad, and there was no food to be found.

“What happened to you guys?” Roscoe asked.

“Well,” Puff started, “we tried to get some nuts from a tree, but we just weren’t strong enough to crack open the shells. So, we don’t have anything to contribute to our picnic.”

“I tried to dig up some carrots,” continued Squeeker. “But, they were just too stuck! I’m sorry everyone, I don’t have anything to bring either. What about you, Roscoe?”

Roscoe shook his head and said, “I was hoping to bring some delicious apples, but when I got into the tree I was just too scared. I’m afraid of heights.” Roscoe hung his head in shame.

The gang was silent for a few minutes as they thought about how sad a picnic is without any food. But then, Duff had an idea!

“I’ve got it!” he exclaimed. Everyone turned to look at him and he continued. “Roscoe, we are birds! We can fly up into that tree to get those apples! Come on, let’s go!”

And with that the little birds once again took flight as Roscoe ran along the ground leading the way to the apple tree. When they arrived the little birds easily plucked the apples from the branches and dropped them down to Roscoe below. He gathered them into a small blanket, tying the ends together to form a makeshift sack. When enough apples had been collected, Roscoe and his fearless little birds ran with excitement back to the picnic blanket.

As the group unloaded the sack of delicious apples, Squeaker came up with another great idea!

“Nuts! I am great at cracking nuts!” he asserted. “Little birds, just show me the way to those nuts and I’ll show you how I can get through those shells!”

Immediately, the little birds jumped into the air and hurried back to the tree where they had found the nuts. Squeaker along the ground following the little birds. When they arrived at the tree, Squeeker wasted no time. He grabbed a nut and bit into the shell. His teeth had no trouble in cracking it, causing the little birds to shout for joy. They began to collect them together and make their way back towards the park when Roscoe showed up.

“I’ve got it!” he shouted. “Squeeker, bring me to those carrots. I’ve got strong claws that can dig them up. Come on, let’s go!”

Squeaker jumped in the air and spun around. He hopped along the ground with Roscoe following behind. In almost no time at all they arrived at the carrot patch. Roscoe did the digging, and Squeaker did the pulling. Together they gathered enough carrots for everyone to enjoy.

When they made their way back to the picnic, the little birds had laid out all of the food on the picnic blanket. It all looked so wonderful! Together the little animals shared everything they had gathered. The little birds made sure that everyone got several nuts. Roscoe was more than happy to share his delicious apples, and Squeaker passed out two carrots for each one at the picnic. It was the best picnic any of them had ever had.

That night when Dada Bird was putting the little birds down for bed, they told him all about the picnic. Puff recounted how Squeaker helped them to crack the nuts. Ruff shared about helping Roscoe with apples. And Tuff told Dada Bird all about how Roscoe helped Squeaker to dig out the carrots.

Dada Bird was delighted to hear about such a wonderful picnic. “That must have made God very happy,” he thought. “You know, little birds, God gave us all different strengths and abilities so that we can help one another – just as you did today. He made us all different and everyone has something that they can share. Isn’t God good?”

The little birds nodded their heads and went to sleep with peace in their hearts.