A Teacher’s Gift From God at Work in Our Lives: How God uses our Hands to Do Good in the World and We Are So Blessed to Do His Good Work. Thank you, God!
A Short Story of Peace, Love, and Christmas Spirit Lead by a Six-Year Old
My kindergartner came home from school one day in December and announced that his teacher said she didn’t want a gift for Christmas.
I told him I had already bought her a gift card to a restaurant, but he protested with wide six-year old eyes, telling me insistently that she said she only wants peace and love for Christmas.
He and I mulled over the choices:
- give her a Christmas card to show her our love
- give her the gift card anyway too so she can have a peaceful dinner with her husband
- or figure out something else to give her that also spreads peace and love in the world
The Size of Your Heart and the Spirit of Christmas
As we watched the Grinch cartoon on tv that evening, we talked about how the Grinch’s heart was so small and it grew big when he felt the spirit of Christmas.
He smiled at me and said, “Mom, my heart’s too big to be grumpy!” He went silent, and then said, “Maybe we can give my teacher something really good that makes hearts grow big like the Grinch heart!”
From the mouth of a babe! He thought of the most wonderful gift to give his teacher, something that would grow hearts. But, how would we accomplish this?
My job was to find the perfect gift for his teacher so he too could feel the joy of giving at Christmas to a teacher he truly loved, plus have the gift provide peace and love. It had to be something that grew hearts BIG. But, I wasn’t quite sure just what that would be. This was a tall order.
God at Work in Our Lives
I searched online and hoped to find something. But, I couldn’t find anything great enough to bring peace and love. I prayed for an idea worthy enough to bring peace and love worthy of my son’s sweet intentions.
I went about my evening with this still weighing heavily on my mind. As I sat at my computer, I saw an email come in from an organization called Feed My Starving Children that provides the packing and delivery of food to feed starving children around the world. As I perused the choices of donation, I found the perfect one. It provided meals to a family in a village in Guatemala in lieu of an actual gift. The donation would provide a gift of peace and love both for the family gifted the meals and for the person receiving the donation in their name.
The gift of donation!
A donation was perfect because it would bring peace and love to people in need. God had a hand in delivering this email at just the precise right moment for me to see it, when I needed to see it.
I entered my credit card information quickly as I was excited to share all of this with my son. The best part was the little card we could print to give to his teacher. The title of the little card read The Strength of a Mother’s Love. I just knew we had found the perfect gift for his teacher because his teacher always called herself school mom to her kids. Indeed, she was his school mom.
God had used our hands to do good in the world and we are so blessed to do his good work!
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