Had the chance to hang out with some kids this week in the Afterschool Program! And no surprise…God used one of them to remind me of something 🙂
Earlier this week, another teacher and I combined our classes in her room and tasked the students to write/decorate a note for someone in a nursing home who may be lonely during this Christmas season. Soon after the assignment kicked off, I left my students with her and returned to my own classroom to get it cleaned up for the next day. While vacuuming the ground-up casualties of a “pretzels vs tennis shoes” battle that raged earlier during snack time, I noticed one young girl had returned to my classroom to continue working on the card she was making. Unsatisfied with the basic craft supplies we provided in the other room, this little cutie enlisted the help of wrapping paper fragments and a roll of ribbon to add the finishing touches to her masterpiece.
Once her creation reached its final form, she brought it to me with expectant eyes, asking if I thought it looked good enough for her to give it to someone else. (!) Good enough?? Do what? I turned around and in her little hands lay the now gift-wrapped card comprised of crooked folds of wrinkled wrapping paper held together by jagged scotch tape pieces of various sizes that ran a variety of directions. On top of the wrapping paper, I found intersecting fragments of purple, glittery ribbon she had crafted into a makeshift, two-eared bow. My response to her? I told her the card was AMAZING as my heart swelled up just a bit. The card wasn’t even for me and yet I fell in love with it. But why?
The imperfections, silly! The imperfections are what made the gift PERFECT!
Those things that were a little out of the ordinary showed me so much about how hard the card’s little creator labored to create it and how badly she wanted it to be valuable in the eyes of the blessed person who will be receiving it. Simply put…she wasn’t holding just some mysterious combination of craft supplies in her hand. She was holding a piece of her heart and was ready to give it away to bring joy to someone else. <3 Sure love that kid…
I tell you this story because the spiritual parallels are striking. We approach God much like this little girl approached me, struggling/hesitant to offer up our “not so perfect” heart to Him…our handiwork replete with scars from past mistakes, chiseled edges of rejection/addiction and the lingering watermarks from so many tears which lay bare the imperiled and vulnerable condition of our soul. Those “messy” things make us wonder if He could ever love what we have to offer.
Truth is, YES, God does love us in spite of the imperfections in what we bring Him. In fact, when we make the effort to present our heart to Him in whatever condition, it’s the imperfections, the indications of how much we need Him, that inspires Him to love us even more, even adopting us to be His very own sons and daughters!
Think on that as you prepare to celebrate Christmas in the coming days. Don’t be afraid to give God exactly what you have…I promise He’ll love it!!
<εφημεριος><
