It
was a new church; everything shone with a cared-for appearance. Spotless rugs
led to every door. The alter-covers showed intricate needlework on carefully
chosen colours and fabric. I felt at home.
When visiting a church, I’m used to
putting my offering in an envelope provided in the church pew. I picked the
only one available and noticed my six-year-old granddaughter had playfully
drawn pictures and printed her name.
Shades
of playing the board game Life the
previous day, explained her boldly written request “I want $100.00.” Rather
than having the elders think I was expecting a reverse offering, I rubbed the
request off the envelope. Thinking the sunflowers she’d created from a yellow
crayon she’d found in a basket at the end of the pew, as well as the daisies
she’d carefully drawn in a row was a playful touch, I removed only her name and
address off the face of the envelope. After all, I didn’t want the church treasurer
to send me a receipt for my pair of toonies.
To
complete my preparation, I placed the envelope on the plate as it was passed by
me. Unbeknown to me, my granddaughter spotted her envelope with the carefully drawn row of daisies and sunflowers
smiling back at her as it rode along in the offering plate. Much to the panic
of her father, she lifted her hand and attempted to rescue her envelope, before
he gently touched it.
Showing
confusion as to why the envelope had suddenly gone into the hands of adults
unknown to her, she put on a pout and began to sulk while sliding down in her
seat. During the children' story, she refused to go forward and continued to
play with her fingers and look down at her feet. I realized my mistake and
hoped that an apology, hug and a visit to the Dairy Queen after church would
ease her pain.
I
reached into the back of my seat, retrieved two new blank envelopes, and
offered them to her. But to no avail, this act of admission of guilt on my part
was not received well. She continued to withdraw, in fact twisted out of the
seat to stand in the aisle as if to make a quick exit if an appropriate time
should materialize.
Acknowledging
that she hadn't understood the use of the envelopes, I went over, knelt beside
her in the aisle of the church, and said, "Thank you for preparing the
envelope. Grandma put some money in it and gave it for God to bless. It was
such a nice present with your pretty flowers. I'm sorry if I gave away something
you liked. For you to give that which you wanted for yourself makes it very
special. That's a true offering. Was it alright to give it?"
She
nodded and tried to smile. She returned to the pew, prepared another envelope
identical to the first and went on her way to Sunday school. An active act of
forgiveness within a service of redemption proved holy ground.
Blessing,
Donna
http://www.donnamann.org
6 comments:
Oh, Donna...you made me chuckle this morning. I understand this completely -- I also have a six-year old grandchild who I often sit with in church, and those envelopes are simply too tempting to resist for those little ones. I'm sure your understanding heart will be a lasting memory for your artistic granddaughter. Thank you.
Donna and Kathleen, you grandmas have a wonderful way of working these tricky incidents through to a good conclusion.
And I'm also sure this will be a lasting memory for the young lady. It would've likely served as a teachable moment for her. ~~+~~
Sometimes we have our drawstrings pulled a little too tight, don't we? Yes it was definitely a teachable moment and what a lovely way that you turned this around for your granddaughter so she became a willing giver of 'more gifts.' Shows the importance of disciplining in/with love. What a beautiful example of 'becoming like a child'. And a great example of what happens when we respond with appreciation. We want to give and do more. Lovely.
Lovely!
Thanks for your comments, folks. It's a special memory for me and I just had to put it down on paper. Blessings.
Sweet memories, Donna. Giving and receiving are vital parts of our lives. :)
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