Amazing God and Lessons a Day Late

Yesterday I wrote a poem about an acorn.  See, I like to take pictures of things that often go unnoticed - like green, unripe acorns held in the boughs of mighty oak trees.  Unnoticed because of size, because of the canopy of leaves, because of the camouflaging color.  This one stood out when I looked back with the advantage of my computer's full screen.  So I wrote a poem.

It really was about the acorn.  And about the acorn's future - from summer to fall.  And about the splendor of autumn colors.  And finally, about that summer acorn held closely in the branches of the oak.

But it was also a metaphor of time and purpose.  It is summer now; the acorn is forming and growing.  It will be fall when the acorn will drop to the ground below and seed - a new tree in the making.  But the acorn is in the now.

It was also a metaphor for our lives... We live protected and young.  Then we grow older and wiser.  We save up and then shower the world around us in gratitude for the blessings in our lives.  As youngsters, we look forward to the party, but we are still protected and young.

Then I wrote a story about a young girl who didn't know that she was someone else's mission.  It was about a young girl who wanted to help others in need, not knowing that she, indeed, was one that others thought in need.  It was a true story, one I don't have an answer for.  Is it wrong to BE the mission when you want to DO the mission?

My daughter and I have come up against this issue at our church.  My daughter has Down Syndrome and the church hosts a Friendship Group class for differently-abled adults in the community.  It is an appropriate class.  However, when the class chose to help out on Mission Sunday, they surprised many of the members.  The members didn't know what to do with this group of adults  - because they perceived my daughter's class as a 'mission'.

What's the relationship between the acorn and the story?

Who is the unnoticed, camouflaged and small? Who is protected and young, perhaps ignoring their purpose?  Who needs to live in their own skin, in their own time - appreciating the now and letting the future take care of itself?

So, here's the God moment.  I had no idea if there was a relationship between the two as I wrote yesterday.  But I trusted that God did.  Why else would they both be on my heart?  Is it possible, that the message is we can be more than one thing at the same time?  Can we be both the present AND the promise of the future?  Can we be both the mission AND the missioner?  Can we be both the seed AND the tree - the child AND the adult?  Look at the passage that I included - I am just now seeing the connection...

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10

We are God's handiwork - Created in Christ Jesus - Prepared in Advance

Amazing God!

Linking With: Unite, Thriving Thursdays

We Are God's

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10

The promise of Fall

Concealed tenderly inside  

A summer acorn

Young, not yet hardened
Perfectly formed masterpiece
Like a nestled star

Autumn is coming

I think the leaves are

Banking the sun-colored hues

For a last hurrah

Shades of red and gold
Sultry-warm, a feast of light
In the foliage

Autumn is coming

But now an acorn
Summered protectively green
Perfectly seasoned

Once upon a time, a young girl lived with her family.  Moving with the seasons, finding work where they could, the family did not have a place they could call their own.  They were migrant.  And they were poor.  

But the young girl didn't know this.  She smiled and laughed with her fellow workers, with her sisters and brothers in the field.  She went to school when she could, and she went to church on Sundays.  She liked her simple life.

One day, she saw a notice posted in the work shed.  

Donate your clothes to the poor. 

Oh!  She thought to herself, how selfish of me.  She berated herself for never having given the poor a second thought.  She felt so rich in her own life that she had not noticed there were some without.  

She convinced her sisters to help her collect clothes to donate.  They sifted through their own belongings.  Only the best, she thought, because a gift isn't a gift if it isn't already loved.  She and her sisters left their bag of clothes outside of the work shed, under the posted sign.  

And they continued to work.  To sing.  To laugh.  They lived in fellowship.

On Christmas morning, an anonymous delivery was made to the young girl's family.  It was a bag of clothes.

Oh!  She thought, as she and her sisters opened the bag that they, themselves, had gathered and donated.  Oh! We are the poor...

Heavenly Father, help us to see what needs to be seen, to hear what needs to be heard.  Help us to be sensitive to those we are trying to help.  Father, infuse us with wisdom for today and for tomorrow, for this season and the next.  We are your handiwork.   

Linking with #TellHisStory, Three Word Wednesday, Jack of All Trades

The World

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. 

Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 

I John 4:7

"It's 6:30 - s'Labor Day - the office is closed."

My daughter stood on the other side of my desk - competing with the view through the window and the blog I was reading on my computer screen.  She was already dressed - pink shorts, tie-dyed t-shirt, pink hat - and she was determined to get my attention.

"Mom, i'sLabor Day - a holiday - the office is closed."

Yes, I squished the words together on purpose.  It's how Sierra talks, sometimes.  Putting the back half of some words with the front half of others.  It's how she hears them.  So Labor Day became s'Labor Day.  And it was as much the charm of that label as the announcement that the office was closed that made me shut my computer off and let my blog go.  Unfinished.  Which would normally bother my OCDness, but was actually fine.  Freeing.  Liberating.

Then she told me the breakfast bell had rung.  Where in the world did I GET this girl.  This child - no, young woman (as she reminds me on a regular basis...).  Yes, the one who years ago would have been left out in a wild place to die, or locked away for life in isolation, who would not have been exposed to education or social situations, who would not have received the medical care she needed - because she was different.  Not only different, but in a medieval way of thinking, less able to be, to do, to live.  My daughter.  Who does NOT suffer from Down Syndrome, but pushes it's boundaries.  Every. Single. Day.

This is the girl who hears of a disaster on the news, a missing person, loss of jobs, wildfires, weather and immediately announces that she will pray for them.  Not only pray for them, if names were mentioned - she will pray for them by name.  Because she cares about people.  Even strangers.  This is a girl who analyzes peoples' names, finds the common letters in her own - and creates relationship - she's my sister, there is i and a.... he's my brother, starts with s....  This is the girl who has started asking every nurse and aid she encounters their name - and then introduces herself with a handshake.  This is the girl who looked at me this weekend and added a new phrase to her litany about being a leader for the high school youth group.  "I am a leader this year.  Are you amazed?"

How did she know!  Yes, I am amazed.

And yet, occasionally, the world steps in and gives me a huge reality check.  It was Mission Sunday last weekend, and our entire church had multiple programs for the congregation to take part in.  Due to a minor miscommunication with her Sunday School, my daughter and I showed up to help with a mission group that wasn't prepared for us.  It was difficult to see the judgement and panic in the eyes of the group when they saw Sierra.  "We're full", they said.  "There just isn't room."  They said.  "No one told us you were coming."  They said.

"It's ok."  I smiled through the start of tears.  "We'll find another group."

So we made our way to the lobby where several activities were going on.  It looked like several groups were busy with their assignments.  One of the church leaders came up to us; we were standing, assessing the situation, deciding where we could help.  He looked at Sierra first, smiling, then at me.

"We've got it all taken care of, here," he said.  "There just isn't any more work to do."  He said.  "No one told us you were coming."  He said.

I am sure that no one intended to marginalize my daughter and me.  I know most of these people and they love my daughter, and they love one another, and they had come to church early to serve,  to love the world through their missions.   But the judgement, the marginalization - it happens.

Here are some suggestions:

• When someone asks to be put to work, find something for them - even Sierra can fold and count sets of programs, or stuff envelopes.  She ended up putting bookmarks into pews - working together with a partner to ensure there were five in each slot... Jobs may take a little more explanation and a couple of examples, but the reward is priceless.

• Always start with high expectations, then adjust and break things down.  It's like teaching someone to fish or giving them a fish.  The teaching is better in the long run - for everyone. 

• Don't ever assume you know someone's capabilities by looking at them.  They can and will surprise you if you use more than your eyes in judgement. 

Jesus said the world will happen - it is the nature of the world.  Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come... Matthew 18:7   The world is kind of our first nature.  So we need to be aware of when the world limits our vision; we need to learn again how to see without labels; we need to humble ourselves to serve.  God gave us a multitude of gifts, each different, each valuable.  Use them.  Appreciate them.  Find joy in them.

Father, thank you for Sierra!  Thank you for our church.  Help us all to help one another live as you would have us live.  

Linking with Women Helping Women