I took my kids to the 4th of July parade this year. I don’t love parades for various reasons, but they wanted to go and so we got up and ready at 7 am and headed over. It was so packed with people that the kids had to squeeze their way into the street to be able to catch candy. Beside my kids was an elderly lady who had come an hour early, I’m sure, and probably had been coming to this parade annually for 40 years now. She had her lawn chairs set up, her visor on to block the relentless sun, and a smile of anticipation across her face. As the parade began, some of her children, grandchildren and great grand children began to show up. The little kids of her family were too young to understand the concept of gathering candy at a parade. Jentri took notice of the younger children near her who were too young to scoop up the candy that had been thrown and began gathering it and handing it to the older lady sitting beside her. The lady then would distribute it to her young great grandchildren. I watched Jentri’s face beam with joy as she willfully sacrificed the candy she could have kept for herself to serve this stranger. The light of Christ radiated undeniably from Jentri with each piece of candy she handed over to the lady, and my heart swelled with love for my little girl.
I hope that Jentri will always remember where deep and genuine happiness comes from. I hope she serves with her heart wide open throughout all her life. We make sacrifices for those we love, and our Almighty Savior has asked us to love one another. Charity is the pure love of Christ. It is seeing and loving and taking care of His people the way that He would. Deep within Jentri’s heart, she already knows this. I hope she will forever hang on to that special gift and serve and willfully sacrifice as the Spirit prompts her to with all her heart.
Forever grateful for sweet and tender mommy moments of love!
