Papers… take home folders of life!

If someone had a video camera in the vicinity of the elementary school today they would have had a Funniest home video of some sort. I was sitting waiting for Baihley at my usual spot, in the football parking lot, and as I sat talking to my sister on the phone, which incidentally waiting time is my catch up with family time, I was watching across from me the kids line up to go to the buses. I saw the hub-bub and I heard the yells but what I saw was what prompted my action. Lately it seems as if I’ve been in the right place at the right time. It’s happened more than half a dozen times in the past 3 months and I still marvel at where God has placed me not only to save a life, rescue a toddler, pray for a friend, listen to a heart break and the other night sit with someone as they sobbed. I asked God awhile ago, 2 years to be exact, that I wanted to be do more and be more than just what I had been doing. Hang on with both hands when that happens because it’s been far beyond my imagination where this has led me. The other night as I watched a lady leave a Bible study sobbing, I found my feet following her. I wasn’t from that church, I didn’t have a clue who she was but I knew one thing; I wouldn’t want to cry alone. Today wasn’t quite so dramatic but it was humorous. I was sitting watching the drama unfold and thought I should take action. Take home folders are important to first graders. Take home folders are life. They carefully, well maybe not so carefully, put their important papers, well okay, probably not so important, but to a first grader they are life crisis. Those papers are their papers. Whoever this take home folder belonged to decided to exit the back-pack enroute to the bus. It’s a very windy day here in Minnesota. The wind has been swirling all afternoon. I rode horse all afternoon, I should know. Buddy was a bit on the goosy side for awhile as he listened to the wind instead of Katie and me. I told my sister I should get out and pick up the papers; much easier said than done. I grabbed one, then the other one flew away and five more were coming at her. When I went to grab it, the wind picked it up and ten feet in the air it flew heading for the field fence. Here I was chasing papers all over the parking lot. Just when I would get to one, the wind would pick it up and away we would go. Once I went to jump on one and all I got when I jumped was dirt under my shoes and the paper laughingly headed toward the outhouses by the football fence. Eventually I got them all picked up. I learned his name was Christian. He had several smiley faces and a parent signature. There were book order forms, spelling words, math worksheets and several parent signature sheets. I had a hand full by the time I got all I could find and walked back across the highway past the buses and into the office where I gave them to the secretary.
What difference does picking papers up have to do with my day? Not much really, except think of how much better our lives would be if we all picked up papers for each other? I’ve dropped my papers before and watched them fly away. It’s a very helpless feeling. Sure, those first graders papers aren’t that important, but to him they were. We all have our opinions of what’s important to people. If it’s not important to us we think it shouldn’t be important to others. We watch people’s papers scatter and we don’t care enough to get out of our car, or comfort zone and run after papers flying in the wind. I wasn’t really crazy about chasing papers all over today but something prompted me to get out of the car and pick them up. That same thing prompted me to follow the lady who was crying last week. That same thing prompts me to listen when someone starts talking to me and I see in their eyes there is more to the story that just words. There are times we have to put our agenda aside and get out of our car and chase papers. Most of us think we are too busy. We let the papers fly around and let whoever cleans up the road ditches handle the mess. Perhaps God is calling you to pick up other people’s papers. That could be simple, that could be complex. It could be a five minute amusing job as it was for me today, or it could be an hour of crying along side a friend. In the end, it might not be a big thing in your life, but it may be a life saver to them. A lot of it is just caring enough when things start flying to stop and offer your hand. The papers may mean very little, but your extending your hand because you care will mean more than you will ever know. And I hope tomorrow when the teacher gives Christian all his papers, he smiles from the bottom of his little first grade shoes!!!