Category Archives: Children

Good Givers

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Generous people are a pleasure to know, and I know (and love) two sisters who are models of generosity. Priscilla and Nathalie were members of Moody Church long before I was, and as soon as they signed on, they began working in the Sunday school.

Both loved children and served faithfully in the two-year-old department for decades. That’s where our paths crossed 40 years ago as Nathalie (left) and Priscilla cheerfully received each of our toddlers when they left the nursery to attend “real” Sunday school. Whether our little ones walked into the class wearing smiles or frowns, these ladies always received them with love.

Priscilla Nathalie

Our children learned their first Scripture verses from Nathalie and Priscilla, along with how to share, how to wait their turn, and how to sit still for flannel-graph Bible stories. When Nate and I returned to pick them up after the adult service each week, these two women always had something positive to say about the morning.

Priscilla and Nathalie have always been generous, with their time, energy, ideas, and good cheer. But that’s not all. They’ve lived lives of monetary generosity, too.

Over the years they’ve loved going out for daily brisk walks, regardless of the weather. After they moved to a suburb near ours, I’d often see them “hoofing it” around town as I buzzed about in my mini-van. It puzzled me that sometimes they’d be walking along the edge of our residential roads rather than on the sidewalks, so one day I asked.

Nathalie said, “Over the years we’ve found pennies or other coins on our walks. In recent years we figured there were even more coins near the curbs, and once we even found a fifty dollar bill!”

$50

As I complimented them on their clever idea, Priscilla said, “Every November we put whatever we’ve found during that year into the Thanksgiving offering at church.”

And that’s where the generosity comes in. They could easily have kept what they found over the years, rationalizing that it “didn’t amount to much.” But Nathalie, a whiz with numbers, has kept track of what they’ve found, and pennies have morphed into dollars….

$1738.81 of them, to be exact.

In 2013 these energetic sisters finally had to call a halt to their neighborhood hiking. But my guess is that God has received their offerings, from pennies to bills, and transformed them into giant blessings in the lives of many. That’s because it was into his hands that they placed their findings.

And one day, when they get to glory, he’ll probably give them all the details.

“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Luke 12:34)

Praising and Praying with Mary

  1. I praise God for my wonderful family!
  2. Please pray I’ll have eyes that recognize God’s blessings in each day.

* Photos by Olin Mills

Caged

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When our son Nelson was 19 months, we moved him from the nursery to a different bedroom because another baby was on the way. But he was still little, so we put him in a second crib. In short order, though, he learned to climb out, and after being tucked in each night, refused to stay put. By the time we got to the bottom of the stairs, he was usually right behind us.

This dilemma changed from being cute to exasperating, and eventually we decided to gate him in his room. That worked for about 10 minutes until he learned to scale the gate. Nate made a trip to the store for a second gate, and with one above the other, we finally penned him in.

A caged NelsonBut rather than surrender quietly, Nelson used his room as a giant playpen, emptying drawers, pulling them out to use as ladders, removing sheets, tearing pages out of books. When he tired of playing, he’d fall asleep at the door, often with an arm and a leg outside the gate.

No one likes to be locked in a cage, whether it’s physical or emotional, but sometimes confinement is positive.

I read of an experiment at a big-city grade school that bordered a busy street. During recess children played only near the school building, fearful of fast-moving cars. After a fence was built, the children took advantage of the entire playground. They even played near the fence, just inches from dangerous traffic.

Little Nelson saw his “bars” as a prison. The school children viewed theirs as freedom. Why the difference?

It’s probably a control issue. We told Nelson, “You must stay in your room.” There was no negotiating, and his determination to get out was the result of a desire to buck the system.

Safety with a fenceThe school children were told, “You can play anywhere on the playground.” There were no restrictions. When they hovered near the building, it was because they chose it. When the “bars” went up, they were relieved.

Many people reject religion because they see it as a set of non-negotiable rules that take the fun out of life. But if they understood that God’s structure protects them from harm, they might view it as a relief.

God is the one who gave us free will in the first place. We can fight against his rules or submit to them, believing his fences actually bring freedom. Within his boundaries, he gives us unlimited choices, but doing things our own way just to buck the system is foolish.

No toddler understands the importance of going to bed at night. But if we would have taken down Nelson’s gates and let him fall asleep wherever he chose, he might have even chosen his bed.

“The trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.” (Romans 7:14)

Taking the Lead

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Last week I enjoyed writing about my mom, thankful for the upright heritage she left behind. Judging by worldly standards, Mom died an old lady of 92 who never worked outside her home or accomplished anything of note. Strangers might have said, “Hers was a wasted life.”

 Fun-loving MomBut those of us who knew her, know otherwise. Before Mom died, we used to joke she’d have a big funeral, and we were right. The crowds came in droves, filling the large room where her body lay, spilling out into the halls and out the front door. The funeral director came running just before the service began with alarm on his face. “Why didn’t you tell me!” he said.

What he meant was, “Why didn’t you tell me this woman was popular? We don’t usually see this for old ladies like her!”

As we greeted guests, Mary and I noticed how most were from the generations behind Mom, people our age and younger. These were the “children” she’d loved and influenced throughout her life, loving all of them as her own. Rather than wasting her life, she’d used it for lofty purposes, leaving footprints that led them all to Jesus.

Here’s an important question for each of us still marching along on this side of our funerals: “Where will my footprints lead?”

FootprintsSteve Green’s song “Find Us Faithful” says,

“As those who’ve gone before us,
Let us leave to those behind us
 The heritage of faithfulness passed on through godly lives.”

God gives us a simple but effective way to leave footprints others will find it worthwhile to follow: just track the steps of Jesus.

IMom and Linnin Mom’s last year of life, she continually had her nose in a Bible. One day I asked if she’d looked at the biography of Julia Child I’d just given her, or her new book about hymn authors. She said, “Honey, I don’t have any time for those. I’m studying for my finals.”

Despite not owning a trophy case or being written up in periodicals, Mom finished well.

“After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone
And our children sift through all we’ve left behind,
 May the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover
 Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find.” (Steve Green)

“God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2:21)