bits of grace
Tonight was our staff Christmas party for the women's shelter team.
It's hard for us to do anything of that sort because we cannot close down. Someone always needs to be at work. So we had the party at work and planned to take turns having people cover the "floor" while the party was going on.
I wound up being the one who covered the majority of the party. I have to admit, there was a moment where I was fighting the bitter. I had done a lot of work for the party and I was missing it. It didn't make things better that I had some clients who were being very snippy to me.
I had to readjust my attitude quickly and remind myself that it is a privilege to serve. Once I did, the Lord filled the evening with little bits of grace.
Grace in the fact that I had a chance to humble myself and apologize to a client for a moment of snippiness. Those things always make me grow.
Grace to share with the clients how proud I am of the team of ladies that I work with, how hard they all work and how much they deserve a break.
Grace that I got to give those ladies a moment to break away and celebrate without having to worry about what is happening out in the shelter.
Grace that two ladies who we KNEW had been sleeping just outside the mission and were refusing to come inside out of the bitter cold, finally came inside.
Grace in the moments of laughter we had as a leadership team as we cleaned up from the party. How sweet to simply laugh, share and fellowship with women of God.
Like I said, lots of little bits of grace.
I think, however the sweetest moment for me happened quite spontaneously.
I was strolling around checking each area, I have one client who is currently very fearful of a medical testing that she has coming up. I have another client with stage four cancer. I was walking down the hall with my client with cancer and the other client began to spout off some of her frustrations and fear.
I have gone round and round with this client about it so this time, I decided there was really noting I could say.
I began to sing, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."
The client stared at me for a moment and then her hard face softened into a smile. The client with cancer came up next to me and I put my arm around her. We continued walking down the hall. When I came around the corner to where several of our women were sitting, waiting for the door to open so they could go shower and get their mat and blanket for the evening.
I continued singing to them and before I knew it, the whole hallway had joined in. For several moments, everything stopped as we all sang together, "Joy to the World," and several other Christmas hymns.
My heart was so light.
I realized in an instant that, if I had been inside the party, I would have missed that moment. I am grateful for the grace that the Lord doesn't place us where we want to be, He puts us where we need to be.
He is so good.
It's hard for us to do anything of that sort because we cannot close down. Someone always needs to be at work. So we had the party at work and planned to take turns having people cover the "floor" while the party was going on.
I wound up being the one who covered the majority of the party. I have to admit, there was a moment where I was fighting the bitter. I had done a lot of work for the party and I was missing it. It didn't make things better that I had some clients who were being very snippy to me.
I had to readjust my attitude quickly and remind myself that it is a privilege to serve. Once I did, the Lord filled the evening with little bits of grace.
Grace in the fact that I had a chance to humble myself and apologize to a client for a moment of snippiness. Those things always make me grow.
Grace to share with the clients how proud I am of the team of ladies that I work with, how hard they all work and how much they deserve a break.
Grace that I got to give those ladies a moment to break away and celebrate without having to worry about what is happening out in the shelter.
Grace that two ladies who we KNEW had been sleeping just outside the mission and were refusing to come inside out of the bitter cold, finally came inside.
Grace in the moments of laughter we had as a leadership team as we cleaned up from the party. How sweet to simply laugh, share and fellowship with women of God.
Like I said, lots of little bits of grace.
I think, however the sweetest moment for me happened quite spontaneously.
I was strolling around checking each area, I have one client who is currently very fearful of a medical testing that she has coming up. I have another client with stage four cancer. I was walking down the hall with my client with cancer and the other client began to spout off some of her frustrations and fear.
I have gone round and round with this client about it so this time, I decided there was really noting I could say.
I began to sing, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."
The client stared at me for a moment and then her hard face softened into a smile. The client with cancer came up next to me and I put my arm around her. We continued walking down the hall. When I came around the corner to where several of our women were sitting, waiting for the door to open so they could go shower and get their mat and blanket for the evening.
I continued singing to them and before I knew it, the whole hallway had joined in. For several moments, everything stopped as we all sang together, "Joy to the World," and several other Christmas hymns.
My heart was so light.
I realized in an instant that, if I had been inside the party, I would have missed that moment. I am grateful for the grace that the Lord doesn't place us where we want to be, He puts us where we need to be.
He is so good.
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