Lessons In Love

     The students were given an assignment to write down a dream they had for their lives in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. day. 20 years have gone by, but the memory still tugs at my heartstrings from the paper our daughter, Angela, wrote for her 4^th grade class. I helped out in our two daughter’s classes once or twice a week throughout their elementary school years.

     Angela’s teacher told the kids to sit quietly for a minute. (no easy task with this particular group of students. She told me she believed they would all become lawyers, since it was impossible to get them to stop talking!) She escorted me to the hallway and pointed to a bulletin board filled with the dreams of her students..

     Most of the kids wished for what you would imagine coming from the mind of a 10-year-old. One wished to become a race-car driver, another to be rich, another to own a horse. Our precious daughter’s greatest dream was for my eyes to be healed. The way to make that happen was to pray for healing for her mom each and every day.

     You can imagine my mother’s heart that day. I still have that paper. I was thankful she could be so thoughtful at such a young age, that she believed in Jesus and believed in the power of prayer. That faith continues to this day for both of our girls. The hard stuff throughout our lives gives us wisdom and faith, even as young children.

     We forget sometimes that Martin Luther King Jr. was a pastor. His selfless work tor humanity stemmed from his willingness to serve His God. To work for something bigger than himself, with no fear of dying, even amidst the dangers he faced day by day. He reminds us to take a step of faith with these words.

“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

     God leads us step by step, even when we can’t see the path ahead of us. Even when He doesn’t answer our prayers in the way we think He should. He works for good through it all. Let Him lead your footsteps today.

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known. Along unfamiliar paths I will guide them. I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do. I will not forsake them. Isaiah 42:16

Father,

Thank You for the lessons along the way. Thank You for the children you give us to love and nurture and the ways You guide them through it all. You will not forsake us, even when we can’t see the path ahead.

In Jesus name,

Amen