Have you ever had a dream to make a difference in the world or in someone else's life? I know I have. I have dreams to do things all the times, but then some excuse pops up. I'm too busy, I don't have the resources, I don't know where to start and on and on the excuses go. This wasn't the case for Amberly who is a 7 year old second grader. Amberly had a dream and she made it come true. Amberly is a part of LifeKids at our Life.Church Norman campus. Her parents serve in several different areas at our campus, which is how I heard this story from her mom. The Shroyer family is super involved in our church and in our community with several different local mission partners.
Recently, Amberly was doing an At Home Leadership Lesson with her mom through Loveworks Leadership. In the lesson there was a teenager that discussed throwing birthday parties for kids that were in shelters. After the lesson was over little Amberly looked up at her mom and said, "what about the homeless adults?" She was specifically asking about the friends and patrons of Food and Shelter one of Life.Church Norman's other local mission partners. Amberly wanted to throw birthday parties for those dealing with homelessness. Her mom helped set up a meeting between Amberly (her daughter) and the director of Food and Shelter, April. April loved the idea so much and supported Amberly's dream. Amberly began collecting items to give away at her birthday party celebration. Each person got a gift bag with an assortment of presents in it and they also got to choose a sleeping bag or coveralls. She also hand wrote a card, that spoke truth over each person who had a birthday for that month.
I went to the December birthday party celebration that Amberly was throwing. I was completely blown away by this little girl and how she was a perfect representation of what Jesus would act like. As I stood off to the side taking everything in, she sat down next to patrons at Food and Shelter just loving on them and eating lunch with them. I was so convicted in that moment that sometimes I can live in my little protected bubble and miss showing Jesus. Amberly wasn't trying to fix anyone's issues. She wasn't there to judge. She was there to show love, Christ's love. Man, how I get this so wrong. I usually always have an agenda and I have become critical of why or how someone got in the situation they are in. That day I learned from a 7-year old what it looks like to love someone else. It's not complicated. It's rather simple.
Love. Love can be a lot of different things. It can be showing kindness. It can be giving. It can be a listening ear. It can be, being present. It can be a listening ear. Love. It's really simple. In Matthew 22:36-40 Jesus tells us that the two greatest commands are to love God and love others. This is what Amberly was doing on that day at Food and Shelter. She was showing Christ's love to others.
I have been convicted to love others better by a 7-year old. I want to love others that look, smell, think, and act different than me. I want to be love to others that may not know Christ's love in their life. I want to be that love. Would you join me in loving your neighbor as well?
Would you join me in showing a smile, in giving a hug, in being present, in listening, or in giving today. Let's love one another.
