Light on Serving

Last week I mentioned that my now-11-year-old daughter K was combining her "birthday party" with a friend (daughter of our Middle School Pastor) by inviting their friends to make sandwiches for Meals on Wheels and the Salvation Army.  Originally it was scheduled for Tuesday, July 8th, but on Monday the 7th, Meals on Wheels called to say they didn't need the kids to come in - the order had been cancelled for the day.  I told the cheerful woman on the phone that this news posed a bit of a problem because they were coming to serve for a "birthday party".  The wonderful lady on the other end of the phone said "oh - well then, give me a half hour" and she rearranged plans for the kids to come in on Friday.

And wow did she rearrange plans!  Instead of the kids showing up quietly to make sandwiches, they were greeted with T-shirts at the door, a live jazz band was playing, Channel 2 was there to cover the event (it aired on the 6 o'clock news that night), and even the Gazette carried a great story in the Saturday paper (although they said the girls' birthdays were in June, not July!).

LeAnn and I were already proud of K for the way she wanted to use her "party" to make a difference, but we were also quite proud of her and her response to the attention.  Rather than get prideful about the light being shined on what she and Lindsay decided to do, she was actually a little bit bummed.  K, who normally loves attention, felt like the joy of serving quietly was stolen.  Her mom and I are thrilled to see that sort of humility already in our tween's heart.  That's the best present we as parents could receive on our daughter's birthday.