Rebecca Carpenter

After returning from a long trip, I was eager to see my son and his family.  I stopped at Ashlyn’s gymnastics’ class for a short visit.

“Emily, look who is here,” Chris said when I entered the waiting area.

She glanced up, saw me, and continued playing with her friend, Emily.  After a moment, she gave me a smile but did not stop or come to me.

“Emily, your grandma is behind you,” her friend stated.

Still no response. The toys held her attention more than I did.  However,  a few minutes later, she started talking to me and explained about her recent injury.

“At school, I got hit by a swing,” she said while pointing to her eye.  She related the incident with a solemn expression as though she was in terrible pain.

“It does not hurt much now does it?” I asked.

“No,” she answered.

“I did not think so,” I told her.  “Your other eye is the one that has a red spot.”

While the adults nearby laughed, she nonchalantly went back to her toys.

When we sat in a restaurant after the class, she leaned over, gave me a kiss, and said, “Did you come because you missed us?”

“Yes, I missed you,” I assured her.

Ashlyn’s reaction to my presence was much different.  As soon as she spotted me through the glass window of the gym, a wide smile covered her face, and she waved excitedly.  When the class ended, she ran through the door, jumped into my lap, and gave me a bear hug.  “Grandma, I want to go to your house again,” she announced.

Each girl had their own way of expressing love and acceptance.  Emily was absorbed in her own activity and did not want to be bothered.  Perhaps she was annoyed and kept her distance because I had been gone for a few weeks.  By contrast, Ashlyn immediately welcomed me with open arms.

Our reactions to God also vary.  If difficult circumstances cause us to feel God has deserted us, we may be aloof and remain distracted.  Maybe because of a divorce, death, job loss, disease, wayward child…  When we do sense His presence, we may be afraid He will leave us again.  We have questions.  Why didn’t you restore the relationship?  Why didn’t you heal?  Why was the job taken away?  Why didn’t the child follow early training?  It takes time for us to realize that He did not go away—we did.  He won’t leave.

At other times, we are more joyous and accepting. We run into His arms and cling tightly knowing that He is there for us.  We want to remain with Him and go to His house. Once again, I received a meaningful sermon from my young granddaughters.  God gives us teachers in all shapes, sizes, and ages.

At each of our seven clinics in Peru, people waited quietly and patiently for our arrival.  Seated in plastic chairs all eyes followed us as we entered and set up our supplies.  No one pushed ahead or complained about the wait while the line grew longer and longer.  At each station, tests were done, results noted, and instructions given for better health.  Everyone was thankful for what they received and gave us smiles, handshakes, hugs, and kisses.

Our limited medical clinic did not cure any diseases, set any bones, remove any cataracts, or provide long term health care.  Hopefully, we did prevent complications of high blood pressure and elevated blood sugar levels by identifying potential problems so they could see a doctor. We did furnish information about more healthful diets, exercise, and better sanitation that should benefit their lives.

Each day we gave away supplies that we had taken.  Reading glasses enabled the users to read easily and thread needles when that had been extremely difficult. Working in the cold market was made a little more comfortable for the elderly lady who received leg warmers.  Handing out band aids to families with children might prevent infections. A beanie baby placed in the hands of a crying child comforted him and made his mother happy.  Supplying vitamins to a family improved their health for a time.  Donating supplies to a school in an impoverished area, assisted children in rising from poverty. Putting a no longer needed necklace around the neck of an elderly lady brought happiness to her quiet life.  Speaking with a young couple to improve their English gave them encouragement as he prepared to take an English test for a scholarship at a US university.  Each day we met people that we served but who blessed us so much.  Their kindness, thankfulness, and helpfulness touched our lives.

I constantly thought of how little the people of Peru had but how happy and grateful they were.  If only all residents of the United States would have the same attitude.  Be grateful not demanding.  Put others first.  Show more compassion and love.

Our team did not experience huge miracles or newsworthy stories.  But every day we saw small life changing ones—both for the people of Peru and for our team.  We do not have to travel far away to be a part of the same miracles here at home.  If we open our eyes and hearts, God will lead us.

             Another sterile doctor’s office awaited us.  The new doctor entered the room and apologized for the long wait which was a surprising event. He then began asking questions about Alan’s condition, took notes, and analyzed previous tests.

            Drip. Drip.  Drip after annoying drip interrupted my morning quiet time. Water from the gutter continued depositing drops into my blue, plastic bucket even after the shower ended. The bucket supplied me with water for my patio plants which I would later pour into plastic jugs for storage.  

            I watched splashes as teeny waves bounced to the sides of the bucket with every droplet. Most of the water in my bucket came from heavy rains, but every drop contributed to filling it up. When I used the water, I did not separate the heavy rain from the tiny beads.  All would be useful in nourishing my parched plants.

            Sometimes we may feel like the wee drops. What we do seems so trivial compared to people like Billy Graham or Mother Theresa who filled buckets and buckets with teachings, preachings, prayers, writings, comfortings … But I realized that not one drop of my water was wasted just as not one action done in Jesus’ name is wasted or insignificant.  Each time we pray, hug, listen, sing, write, serve … we are helping to fill a bucket. We can preach to a crowd or visit a shut in. Maybe we write a book or pray for a friend. Perhaps we go on a mission trip or babysit for a single parent. Possibly we host a radio show or hug a crying child. No task is too small or inconsequential when done in love.  

            Each drip that sounded reminded me that my “small” tasks were waiting for me. How will I fill my bucket today?  

            Gorgeous pictures of nature scrolled before me on an email from a friend. She commented that her pictures never looked that good. I remembered a photographer commenting that she took hundreds and hundreds of pictures to find one or two that met her expectations. By contrast, I snap one and two and expect them to be perfect. Often they are passable but not perfect. Sometimes, they need to be deleted since they are unusable, but I am happy with the good ones.

            I thought of the pictures the next day when I was gazing at the lake, trees, bushes, and flowers from my special patio retreat. Cana lilies produced pods of numerous seeds, dropped them to the ground, and scattered them to form new plants. After flowering, the crape myrtles also formed pods at the end of each limb which fell to the soil before sprouting. Yellow marigold blooms dried up, dropped off, and seeded the surrounding area.

            Hedges created red berries which became seeds strewn by birds and the wind. Acorns plunged to the soil or were buried by squirrels before sprouting into tiny trees. Mature pine trees yielded hundreds of pine cones filled with seeds which then formed miniature pines.

            Every plant reproduces itself in some method, but only a few actually survive, thrive, and grow to maturity because of the proper growing conditions. When I looked at my flowers, I did not lament every seed that did not endure but celebrated the ones that did. If I worried over the lost seeds, I would miss the beauty and pleasure of the lovely blooms before me.

            Unfortunately, it is easy to look at the past failures, mistakes, hurts, and disappointments while missing the celebrations of the present. Lessons can be learned from the past but should not detract from living in the present. If God produces thousands and thousands of seeds knowing that only a relatively few would survive, why would anyone think that every life should be failure free? Instead of grieving the trials, frustrations, and defeats, celebrate the victories.