Elizabeth started fourth grade this year. There was a break from school after Katrina - school got wet. Mom’s barber shop and their house had a break, too - they flooded.
The first time I met Elizabeth, she looked way depressed. She would hardly make eye contact. She retreated behind Mom’s leg.
Saturday night Elizabeth and her Mom and her brother came to the Christmas party. Folks from Macon, Georgia brought Christmas to Long Beach. There were stuffed toys, and a chocolate fountain for covering cocoanut delights, and a huge decorated tree. There were children and people and noise everywhere.
Since Katrina, volunteers from all over have been doing things at Elizabeth’s house. It has been “mucked out.” The electrical and plumbing and insulation and sheet rock have had attention. There is a stove and a washer and a dryer.
Elizabeth was different Saturday night. She bounced and glowed. Her eyes sparkled. There was a “mile-wide” smile that was contagious for everyone. No retreating tonight; there were neck hugs and grins.
Down on one knee, eye-to-eye, I had to ask, “Elizabeth, what are you so excited about?”
“Christmas at my house!”
Yep, it happened again, Ed’s eyes got wet.
Higher, more evangelistic motives for volunteering? Yes, there are; like sowing the seed of the kingdom, and more. But I am a child, my Father’s child, and for Saturday night, it was enough motivation for this child to hear from another child, “Christmas at my house!”
Please forgive the slightly sloppy theology; I am a child and I am excited thinking of “Christmas” in my Father’s house.
He has already given me the gift!
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