previously published in the Christian Courier
“This is the best day ever!” exclaimed my five year old
daughter as we headed to church on Sunday.
These words stuck in my mind as I was preoccupied in thought. Exactly a week prior our family helped move a
family of 7 to a northern community 8 hours away. This family had been in our house group for
three years and their two oldest kids were my daughter’s playmates. They were bff’s (best friends forever). Our daughter is an only child and so the
friendship that these kids have had has been an incredible blessing and gift to
us as parents and it filled a need for our daughter. Needless to say we were all missing their
presence and we knew that Sunday’s would be the hardest for our daughter.
So, as she pronounced this to be the “best day ever”, I
wondered what was going on in her mind. Did
she not remember that her best friends would not be there? There she was getting herself dressed and
ready with a smile and a song in her heart.
She was literally overjoyed and I was taken back. I asked her why it was the best day ever and
she said, “Daddy, I am going to be the teacher’s helper in Sunday School
today.” She could hardly control her
enthusiasm and she even chose her clothes saying that this is what a helper
would wear.
I didn’t ask her if she was missing her friends, or if
she even remembered that they would not be there, I just let her be in her
joyful state. I watched her as she went
down to the class grinning from ear to ear.
There were no outward tears or eyes searching for her friends, no it was
Sunday as usual and she went downstairs with her teacher without a care in the
world.
I know that she is processing in her own way the loss of
her friends. It takes her a while for
her to voice her thoughts and emotions and so we patiently wait. Though technology has grown and given us the
ability to foster continued connection via skype and face time, this isn’t the
same for a young child who needs the tangible in person connection with another
person. Yet, somehow I wonder if my
daughter gets this realization that life goes on and she is not going to let
this stop her from the next thing God has for her to do. Even at her age God has a plan and purpose for
her and we see her embracing this call of service unto the Lord. It seems that she is oblivious to the missing
and just steps into the next phase of life.
As I watched my daughter’s behaviour, I had to ask myself
some questions. Do I believe the plans
and purposes for my life in the midst of loss?
Can I in childlike faith be just as excited as our daughter was in the
next step of the adventure of serving God?
Or do I in the midst of change lose sight of what God wants to do
next? To be perfectly honest, I know that
this is a challenge for me and during times of change I can lose my enthusiasm
and forget that God is good and does have new things for me. I can get stuck in the memories of what I am
missing and lose sight of the new all around me. New people who will join our
house group, new families to meet and foster friendship and new and creative
ways to stay intentionally connected with this family. Rather than fight these changes I can learn
from my daughter that faith like a child is simplistically wonderful.
The truth of the matter is that life goes on and thankfully,
God’s grace and mercy is new to us every morning, giving us the ability to face
each and every day as a gift. Our
challenge is to look for the new adventures, the plans and purposes that God
has for us each and every day. With change, there will be the natural
missing, especially when people move on to other places, but we can’t get stuck
there, we have to press on to find the treasures around us. With faith like a child and no matter what we
face, we can enthusiastically proclaim to those around us that “Yes, this is
the best day ever!”
