God fixes hearts (including mine)
Shawn, Molly and I are trying to start something new at Wright’s Chapel in sharing a blog post each week. Our reason for doing so is because we felt that as staff we each sit in a unique position and because of our being involved in so many different aspects of Wright’s Chapel we are privileged to get to see the work and impact God is making through you and this church. I pray that all those who come here experience the presence of God in some way, but there is so much going on at Wright’s Chapel that some of God’s work surely gets missed. Our hope is to point it out!
I came into church Wednesday morning and walked down the hallway and noticed that our blackboard we have on the wall by the office had been written all over. I had just had our volunteer high-school students clean that yesterday morning as part of their work and it was clean when I left in the late afternoon on Tuesday and so honestly I was a little annoyed that it was written on again. Why was the chalk left out? Who was supposed to put the chalk away? Couldn’t those who wrote on it see that the board was clean? Those were the questions running through my head. We tend to use that blackboard only on Sunday mornings as a way to get people to respond and to start thinking about our sermon theme for the day. Now I was going to have to get someone to clean it again, or worse case, I would have to do it.
It was Molly who pointed out the blackboard when she came in to work. “I forgot to put the chalk away when the after-school kids were here she said and so they wrote all over the blackboard. Sorry about that, she said, but did you see what they wrote?”
I hadn’t paid any attention to what was written on the board. I was only annoyed that it was written on. When I went out again to see what was written, I found messages from our children to God and I’m pretty sure God was using our children to send messages to me and to all that would pass by. One child wrote, “I love God.” Another wrote, “I am more confident when God is with me.” Another wrote “God loves everyone, even when we are bad.” And another child wrote, “God fixes hearts.” These are the writings and wisdom of our kindergarten, 1st and 2nd graders who come to Wright’s Chapel every Tuesday. Actually reading that blackboard helped to fix my heart today.
I’m not cleaning the blackboard today nor am I making sure the chalk is put away. I’ll rather wait to see if God sends another message.
Peace, Charles
