Created to Serve God and People
Between traveling to multiple homeschool conventions for years and years . . .
On Ray’s birthday in a hotel in Denver during the Colorado homeschool convention
. . . to numerous trips to Vanderbilt over the last almost three years, Ray and I have seen the inside of many hotels.
One morning years ago, when we walked into the hall to leave for the day, I noticed a middle-aged man pushing a large laundry cart.
It was fun to look on Library of Congress for pictures of laundry carts. They are a far cry from the one we saw that day, but they are fun!
Dog team used to deliver laundry, Alaska, c. 1910
13-year-old laundry boy driving wagon
in Bowling Green, Kentucky, May 1916,
photo by Lewis Wickes Hine
Street scene with laundry cart, c. 1920
I shouldn’t stereotype people, but I was surprised to see a man his age at the hotel doing that particular job. When he got near us, he said, “You are two sharply dressed people.”
We said, “Thank you.”
I waited at the lobby door with a portable battery while Ray went out to pull up the van. When Ray arrived, the white-haired gentleman rolled the battery outside for me. He commented on our large van. I explained that we sell books. “What kind of books?” he asked.
“Books for people who homeschool their children,” I replied.
“Do a lot of people do that?” he asked.
I told him that we were in town for a homeschool book fair and that there would be several thousand people there. He said, “That’s nice.”
I told him that I hoped he had a good day. He gave us wishes for a nice day, too, and said, “Y’all are nice people.”
This man reminded me of what Jesus said about becoming like children. Childlike is a good way to describe him. Except for his outward appearance, I don’t imagine he has changed much since he was a child. His mother likely worried about her son’s future; but on that day, he was working at an honorable occupation, finding ways to be helpful, and brightening the day for two tired travelers. I can’t think of a better goal for any of our children–or for ourselves, for that matter.
Our youngest grandchild is one of our very greatest delights. She exudes joy. She makes our hearts smile each time we are together. We are deeply grateful to be the grandparents of this precious little girl with Down syndrome.
While shopping for books for our little book lover’s second birthday recently, I picked up one that talked about a child growing up and what that child might become. I pushed it back into its place on the shelf. Our dreams for her are different from those in that book. Our dreams are for her to be honorable and helpful and to continue brightening the day of everyone she meets in whatever ways God leads her and her parents.
Each child is a unique person created in God’s image with different ways to serve God and to serve the people around them.
And He called a child to Himself
and set him before them, and said,
“Truly I say to you, unless you are converted
and become like children, you will not
enter the kingdom of heaven.
Whoever then humbles himself as this child,
he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 18:2-4