Hello to all who read this blog. February passed so quickly and it seems it has been such a long time since I have “touched base,” with you in this way.
I just wanted to share a quick story with you all of, what I call, “ministry outside of ministry,” that I encountered this Monday after school when I took my little “adopted sister” on a walk to the park.
We sat down and we talked, and we talked, and we talked. And I listened. At one point she told me that back in June when I moved in next door, she told herself, “Wow, can you believe that there’s this person standing in front of you, who, like, really cares about you and wants to spend time with you?!”
I didn’t recognize she was talking about me. I was touched.
Later, we were talking about what we do in our free time, and I made a joke about how I have no hobbies. She immediately corrected me, “Yes you do! You have a ton of hobbies!” When I asked what they were, she listed a lot of things that I wouldn’t have counted as hobbies.
“You like to journal, you like to watch all the sunsets, you like sitting outside, taking time alone, reading, but only sometimes- wait, reading sometimes, or often? Okay, reading sometimes, you like to go to church, you like to take your time to worship, you like painting and drawing, and drinking coffee. Oh and baking and cooking.”
Honestly, that surprised me! If you know me at all, you know that she had me pegged. Those are all things I love to do. Some of them are things I HAVE to do. And some of them are things I wish I would do more often…
You don’t recognize how much they watch you. She’s almost 17, but like a little baby, she sees everything. It makes you recognize how much your character, and the little things that you never, “try” to teach, really do matter. It makes me want to be a better person.
Thanks God, for these relationships I don’t deserve.