(Hooray...the computer is home! So thankful to have a friend from church who knows how to deal with such things. A pox on the head of those individuals who have nothing better to do than think of ways to infiltrate and harm other peoples' computers. I mean, really??? You can't think of anything better to do??)
There's an organization, here in Bamaham, called Sav-A-Life. They are a LIFE AFFIRMING crisis pregnancy ministry. They offer all sorts of services for their incoming mothers...pre-natal care, childbirth education, post-natal care, parenting classes and most importantly, Bible study. And since they are LIFE AFFIRMING, they also help with the adoption of many babies born to mothers who have come to Sav-A-Life seeking help. Each year, churches in our area get together and host a shower for Sav-A-Life. They survive on private funds, so such events are a great blessing to their organization. Our church hosted this year's shower...which was yesterday. There are moments in life when you seek the opportunity to be a blessing to those around you and you walk away being the one blessed...yesterday was one of these moments.
I was part of our church's host team, so I was in full "Martha" (my "Martha"ish sisters will understand, as will our "Mary"ish sisters...if you're lost...look up the stories of Mary and Martha in your Bible)mode. Tables were set up and decorated, snacks and punch were assembled and the guests started rolling in. Ladies from churches, county-wide, came and participated. The gifts began to accumulate. Clothes (baby clothes are so sweet), bath items, car seats, a stroller, blankets, Sock Monkeys (I LOVE a Sock Monkey!), bibs, bottles, and diapers....lots of diapers. Well, I thought it was a lot of diapers until Emily showed up...with her wagon.
Emily is five years old and lives in our county. She and her mama were reading the county newspaper and they came to a little article about yesterday's Sav-A-Life event. Something about the article and the resulting conversation with her mama moved her heart...her FIVE YEAR OLD heart. Emily proceeded to talk to her neighbors, her family and her church family about the Sav-A-Life shower. She asked for donations of diapers...or money to buy diapers. She even had a lemonade stand to raise money for diaper purchases...IN THE RAIN! This little girl sat in the rain selling lemonade on the day before the shower, so she could take as many diapers as possible to the shower. She's five...did you catch that? Very important to remember this....she's five.
The door to the fellowship hall opens and here comes this cherubic little thing pulling her beach wagon behind her...FULL of diapers! We were all so very tickled...then she left...and came back AGAIN...and AGAIN...and AGAIN! In total, this child...this baby collected 131 packages of diapers! I don't know the individual diaper count...but 131 packages! And she's five!!! I wish you could have seen her face...rosy cheeks and sparkling blue eyes...giggling the whole time about all the diapers! Her mama and daddy were with her and I don't know how they watched their little girl do this without bawling their eyes slap out of their heads....I don't know her from Adam's housecat (translation=perfect stranger) and I was near to tears. We've already discussed how easily I cry....so it was no small feat that I wasn't a tear stained, mascara streaked mess! A gathering of grown women were left mystified and bemused and BLESSED by the heart and actions of this little bitty girl.
I looked up her name, Emily, to see what it meant. Are you ready? "Eager" and "laborious" are a couple of the meanings. I've said it before and I'll say it again....the LORD has a sense of humor! I've never seen anyone...ANYONE...be so eager to work...so eager to be at work...so eager to attend to the task before her...so eager to tackle a difficult job...so eager to work hard! She did not limit herself to what her piggy bank could do, or what her piggy bank and a few dollars from her parents could do....nope! She figured out that her part, with her parents' part and the contributions of people around her would be so much bigger than what she could do by herself. I had to stop a minute and ask God to forgive my shortsightedness...to forgive my "I'm only one person" mentality. It's a rather humbling thing to realize that a five year old has a better grip on things than a "mature forty year old adult!" How many times have I put God in a box because of MY limitations? He's the creator of the universe...he knows no limits..but I am so quick to try and constrain him. And in doing so, how many blessings have I missed?
I don't know that I will ever be able to look at a pack of diapers the same way, ever again. I know I won't be able to look at them without thinking of Emily and her wagon. God bless Emily...and her wagon.
There's an organization, here in Bamaham, called Sav-A-Life. They are a LIFE AFFIRMING crisis pregnancy ministry. They offer all sorts of services for their incoming mothers...pre-natal care, childbirth education, post-natal care, parenting classes and most importantly, Bible study. And since they are LIFE AFFIRMING, they also help with the adoption of many babies born to mothers who have come to Sav-A-Life seeking help. Each year, churches in our area get together and host a shower for Sav-A-Life. They survive on private funds, so such events are a great blessing to their organization. Our church hosted this year's shower...which was yesterday. There are moments in life when you seek the opportunity to be a blessing to those around you and you walk away being the one blessed...yesterday was one of these moments.
I was part of our church's host team, so I was in full "Martha" (my "Martha"ish sisters will understand, as will our "Mary"ish sisters...if you're lost...look up the stories of Mary and Martha in your Bible)mode. Tables were set up and decorated, snacks and punch were assembled and the guests started rolling in. Ladies from churches, county-wide, came and participated. The gifts began to accumulate. Clothes (baby clothes are so sweet), bath items, car seats, a stroller, blankets, Sock Monkeys (I LOVE a Sock Monkey!), bibs, bottles, and diapers....lots of diapers. Well, I thought it was a lot of diapers until Emily showed up...with her wagon.
Emily is five years old and lives in our county. She and her mama were reading the county newspaper and they came to a little article about yesterday's Sav-A-Life event. Something about the article and the resulting conversation with her mama moved her heart...her FIVE YEAR OLD heart. Emily proceeded to talk to her neighbors, her family and her church family about the Sav-A-Life shower. She asked for donations of diapers...or money to buy diapers. She even had a lemonade stand to raise money for diaper purchases...IN THE RAIN! This little girl sat in the rain selling lemonade on the day before the shower, so she could take as many diapers as possible to the shower. She's five...did you catch that? Very important to remember this....she's five.
The door to the fellowship hall opens and here comes this cherubic little thing pulling her beach wagon behind her...FULL of diapers! We were all so very tickled...then she left...and came back AGAIN...and AGAIN...and AGAIN! In total, this child...this baby collected 131 packages of diapers! I don't know the individual diaper count...but 131 packages! And she's five!!! I wish you could have seen her face...rosy cheeks and sparkling blue eyes...giggling the whole time about all the diapers! Her mama and daddy were with her and I don't know how they watched their little girl do this without bawling their eyes slap out of their heads....I don't know her from Adam's housecat (translation=perfect stranger) and I was near to tears. We've already discussed how easily I cry....so it was no small feat that I wasn't a tear stained, mascara streaked mess! A gathering of grown women were left mystified and bemused and BLESSED by the heart and actions of this little bitty girl.
I looked up her name, Emily, to see what it meant. Are you ready? "Eager" and "laborious" are a couple of the meanings. I've said it before and I'll say it again....the LORD has a sense of humor! I've never seen anyone...ANYONE...be so eager to work...so eager to be at work...so eager to attend to the task before her...so eager to tackle a difficult job...so eager to work hard! She did not limit herself to what her piggy bank could do, or what her piggy bank and a few dollars from her parents could do....nope! She figured out that her part, with her parents' part and the contributions of people around her would be so much bigger than what she could do by herself. I had to stop a minute and ask God to forgive my shortsightedness...to forgive my "I'm only one person" mentality. It's a rather humbling thing to realize that a five year old has a better grip on things than a "mature forty year old adult!" How many times have I put God in a box because of MY limitations? He's the creator of the universe...he knows no limits..but I am so quick to try and constrain him. And in doing so, how many blessings have I missed?
I don't know that I will ever be able to look at a pack of diapers the same way, ever again. I know I won't be able to look at them without thinking of Emily and her wagon. God bless Emily...and her wagon.
What an awesome example of how God uses children to do His work. They can do it with such faith!
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