When we started looking for a congregation to call home after moving to TN last summer, one of the biggest draws to where we ended up was that my daughter had made a best friend who worshiped there, too. Her friend is actually about six months younger than she is, but they were in the same Bible class at the time, so it was always exciting for her to see her. Their friendship remains, although they don't always remember that they're best friends when playing together. After all, they're both three, so it's still hard to share.
A few Sundays ago, we were on one pew and our friends on the pew behind us. All of a sudden, my daughter's friend gets carried quickly out by her daddy and there's a puddle of vomit behind us. My daughter looked back and whispered, "Where did she go?" I tried to quietly and succinctly explain that she had gotten sick and her daddy had taken her to get cleaned up. I was not expecting what happened next. My daughter's face scrunched up, tears pooling in her eyes, and she started crying in the middle of the prayer. "But will she be okay?" Later that week, she had a similar reaction when she found out another friend's great-grandma had passed away. Granted, she has just gone through that, so she remembers how sad it is, but still ... real tears for her friend. When was the last time we reacted like that when one of our friends was sick or hurting in some way? Sure, we see the prayer requests posted on Facebook or the church power point screen, and we make some remark like, "Oh, that's so sad." Do we do anything else? I want to be more like my little girl who immediately wants to make sure her friend is okay, remembers to pray for her at bedtime, and even asks about her the next morning because she loves her so much. I need to remember to be more tenderhearted, open to "bearing each other's burdens," like the Bible commands us. How about you? Have you let the busyness of life take over so that you don't have time to stop and actually care about people? Will you join me in trying to work on being more like a child?
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This is a place for me to share thoughts and ideas not just related to writing. Thoughts about what's going on in my life, about an idea I got that I thought shareworthy, or just a funny anecdote.
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