Nancy E. Head writes about accord among Christian denominations (traditionalist and evangelical) and ministry to those in need.
Nancy was a single mother with five children under the age of 14 when she attended Penn State University to earn a bachelor’s degree in English and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and has a master’s degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
She writes, teaches, crafts, and helps her husband lead a small group at their church devoted to ministering to the needy in their community.
The neighbor shows the girl the stars. Beyond them, she sees what is truly essential — what the neighbor himself has already learned from the little prince.
“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
When we find wonder — the invisible that shapes our souls — we learn the essence of who we are. And that essence speaks in everything we do. We learn that the world can be full of patient wonder. And patience is not found in a 30-minute sitcom that resolves a superficial crisis.
Wonder takes us deeper than two inches. It teaches us to endure. And endurance pays off with a prize. The prince:
“Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.”
Patience is, of course, a virtue. And wonder will always teach us virtue. C.S. Lewis shows us what happens when we lack vision and thereby lack wonder:
“We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise."
Without wonder, we have only empty enterprise. We have no virtue and no vision.
On the first night of the New Year, two girls and I settled down with a bowl of popcorn and The Little Prince. Then they dreamed under the completed quilt.
One day they will be grown-ups, at times consumed with the essentials of everyday living, but the prince reminds us that,
“All grown-ups were once children… but only few of them remember it.”
May they count themselves among the few who remember — because only those who remember that wonder comes from God can participate in it with Him.
“Then Joshua said to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.’"Joshua 3:5
Then Joshua told the people, "Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do great wonders among you."
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ESV
The holiday season is filled with stories of kindness. But only God could have “accidentally” provided so many turkeys, the exact need for the pantry’s patrons.
As miracles go, this one is small. But tiny miracles are sometimes the ones with the most power to encourage.
My friend was ringing a bell beside a red kettle. Passersby impressed her with their generous donations to the kettle and a gift of hot chocolate for her.
On social media, I read of a worn out mother trying to get her weary little ones through a restaurant lunch. A fellow diner paid for her family’s meals and helped her herd her flock to her car.
Two men in line at a busy store began to argue–each encouraging the other to go first.
My husband Paul and I were at the post office waiting to mail packages that were not quite ready to go. A stranger waiting with us helped me wrap. Paul held our places in line. She folded. I taped. The process was fun and not frustrating as it might have been.
Someone might argue that these encounters are nothing like real miracles. The laws of nature stood intact through each story.
Each encounter, though, reflects regard for neighbor over self. Each person who reached out touched others and those who stood by as witnesses.
Imago Dei–God’s image reflected in small acts of kindness. Wonderful little miracles to give hope to those in need, to a weary traveler, to a busy shopper.
Perhaps those who received their Christmas meals from the pantry did not realize the miracle of the turkeys. But we know that these meals, like manna, came from above.
We are on the cusp of the giving season that celebrates God giving Himself.
We can give the miracle of us and be imago Dei to others.
“But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You." 1 Chronicles 29:14
But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us!
OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt)
NASV
The old table went out the back door and the new table came in.
We had planned to put the old table on the sidewalk with a “Free” sign on it. But Paul found out that this very neighbor and his wife had no table. Now they do. We would never have known their need if we had not asked for his help.
So I’m thankful for my new table. I’m thankful for the craftsman who made a table with legs unlikely to wobble in my lifetime. I’m thankful for the help of a neighbor and that we could help him in return.
I’m thankful for all the elbows to occupy our table this holiday and those we hope will arrive in coming years.
Most of all, I’m thankful for the Master Carpenter who places us in each other’s lives and gives us opportunities to help each other.
Give thanks to the God of heaven, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. (Psalms 136:26
Give thanks to the God of heaven. His faithful love endures forever.
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