When I was about seven or eight years old, I learned two very important things, one, that we're all brothers and sisters, and two, because of that everyone deserves our love, even if we don't agree with or like them. I remember very clearly thinking that I was going to travel then world, meet my brothers and sisters and share this message of love. Who knew, that losing my hair at age eleven, to a condition called Alopecia Areata, would teach me even deeper lessons of love, understanding and compassion for myself and others.
Unexpectedly one night, while saying a prayer for my sister and nephew, an idea for a children's picture book flooded my mind and being. It was definitely the experience of Divine Inspiration. I knew it was an idea I had to make happen, even though I'd never aspired to be a writer. It wasn't until after I'd self-published my first book, I Love You More, and was shipping books all over the country, did I realize that I was fulfilling on that idea I had as a child. Soon I found myself out at schools, sharing with five and seven year olds, speaking at women's groups and charity organizations. I was now traveling the world, meeting my brothers and sisters, and sharing the message of love.
Even when I wasn't physically there, my book and it's message was. Fairly recently I realized, when another fourth grader asked if I had plans to write chapter books, that with children's picture books, not only does my message reach the little ones, but also the parents, grandparents, teachers, preachers and aunts and uncles! It's amazing to me, that when adults probably have as open of a heart as possible, when they're reading to a child, my message of love is being read and listened to. My new book, is stirring up the same kind of magic, You Are a Gift to the World, which flips over to The World is a Gift to You, encourages children and adults to find the gifts in the moments we share together and in beauty of the world that surrounds us. Imagine a world where children, of all ages, are present to the gift that life itself is.
I feel very blessed to be able to fulfill on my dream of being an "Ambassador of Love" and for having found the perfect vehicle to do so...writing children's picture books!
Laura Duksta is the author of two children’s picture books: I Love You More, a New York Times bestseller, and You Are a Gift to the World, which is newly released.