JOY!

Sometimes joy breaks through in ways that bless and warm my heart. I’ve been fighting some bug since Monday night that makes me feel like sleeping a lot even after 7-8 hour nights. I have been taking vitamins etc… but I still feel exhausted. I was thinking to myself this morning when I got up, “God I don’t need this, I’ve got too much going on.”

Wednesday morning is when I mentor a couple of first graders, a boy and a girl, at Roosevelt Elementary. I felt so tired when I got up that I almost called to cancel but this is something I am committed to and because I am not coughing and nothing gross is coming out of me, I hope I am not contagious with anything
Mentoring is one of the bright spots in my week. The kids are all smiles when I get there. I get hugs. The little boy in particular is especially affectionate. I start with his classmate and every time he runs to me and says, “I am next, right? You are taking me next, right? You will come and get me.” I smile and reassure him that indeed he is next and that I won’t forget him. I am thinking I might see with his teacher if I can alternate back and forth whom I start with.

“It is better to give than to receive” seems so true in this case. These kids make my day.
Jesus says, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matt. 10:39). This seems so counter-intuitive. How can you find something by losing it? This is not the math that we were looking at with my little friends this morning when we were doing additions.

Then something very unexpected happened. The little girl looks at the cross that I wear around my neck and says something that stuns me, “my cousin says that God is dead.” I am taken aback by the statement itself; by the timing of her statement because we are deep in addition homework then and not talking about God. She does not know I am a pastor. The other thing that takes me aback is that this 6 year old would know that the cross I wear is related to God.
I am mentoring at a public school so I think to myself “how do I respond? How do I talk about the resurrection to a 6 year old?” After a few seconds, I say, “O no, God is very much alive. He died so that we would not have to and He loves you very much.” and then I get us back to our additions homework. Whew… Part of me wants very much to tell her more. Part of me knows I can’t really do that in this context nor do I really know how to explain the deep mysteries of the resurrection and faith to a first grader. But I decide after a while that I do know how to do this and that is by showing up week after week and giving her my undivided and caring attention for the time we have together. I trust that God will make the message clear to my little friends in time.

I am still feeling like I am coming down with something but my heart is full. Life is meant to be given away in service to others. There are incredible blessings in that!