At the beginning of the month, before we did the mural, the family's littlest son would kind of shy away from me. Then he got to paint. Specifically, one day, he was without a shirt, so I painted a smiley face around his belly button. When he would wipe it off, I would paint another white smiley on his little black and poking-out tummy. Somehow, after that, he would embrace me heartedly when he saw me. Who knew a smiley could do that?
Well, that last night, we were at the bakery, and he was there. He just sat on my lap in the darkening night on the stoop of the bakery, and I just remember not wanting to leave that spot with my arms wrapped around his little body in my lap. There was this stillness all around, in my heart, in my mind, in my body, in my soul.
All the paint projects, all the camps, all the good and great and awesome things God has accomplished and is accomplishing... I am so grateful, and I know it is His call, His doing. I just think He reminded me what it is really all about tonight. It is about that little boy I will see again in several months. I smile now thinking of him. I can't wait to hold him again.
And then, these pictures, below, serve as a reminder of that little boy and all those boys, you know, my Sister, that we are called to. To raise up. To be men of God. To feel loved. To feel loved. To feel loved. To feel valued. To feel called. I forget sometimes. Thank you, God, for reminding me. For reviving my heart for them, the ones we do not even know and the ones we do.
