4th
SIGNIFICANCE
One of the pivotal inquiries of a life’s relevancy is the matter of significance and the scarcity of its observance will cause a person to doubt their self worth. In a world as immense as the one we live in, this can be a formidable task; standing out in a sea of others whom are all trying to stand out as well. Everyone struggles with the issue of significance, and the other day, I learned a beautifully unforgettable lesson that illustrates how a Master choreographer arranges time and events to coincide in our days to bless us, if we will take His hand and join in the dance.
March 31st was ‘Red Envelope Day’, which is the day that people of conscience send an unopened red envelope with a sentence written on the back, saying that they are ‘standing up’ and ‘speaking out’ for an unborn child who has died because of an abortion. My daughter, Sarah, a 21 year old, benevolent towards all children, was gathering the red envelopes for me from my stationary supply, when she sighed and said, “Mom, my envelope isn’t going to make any real difference.”
As all mothers know, there are many jobs to be done to assist your child’s development, and on that day, mine was head cheerleader. The goal was to encourage my daughter, whom, if anyone was justified in feeling discouraged at a life that might not make a difference in the world, she does. Many of us would be tempted to give up, if, after showing remarkable scholastic promise, they were slammed by multiple diseases, 5 surgeries, a back injury, intractable migraine headaches, 2 major back surgeries, including a fusion of the spine and painful 2 year recovery. Let’s face it; many of us are discouraged when we don’t get a promotion at our work.
I told Sarah that it was important to do the right thing, for the sake of doing the right thing, that God has His way of taking the little that we give to Him and making His most out of it; all things I have told her many times before, and we went to mail the envelopes. She seemed to be okay with my encouragement, but not completely buoyed. As I turned to get my purse and keys, I heard her say quietly to herself, or maybe every unborn child, “Baby, this envelope is for you, because you cannot speak for yourself.”
Believe me, this is the moment that every mother lives for, because you talk to your children minute by minute, for hours, in all situations, over the years of their lives, but you can’t always be sure how much of what you say is sticking inside their hearts, or if it does stick, you can’t be sure that it isn’t leaking out, through the sieve of this contrary world. However, on Red Envelope Day in 2009, I knew my words had stuck. God, the Master Choreographer had just taken me for a round on the dance floor to my favorite song, and my feet didn’t even hurt.
We left the house to post our envelopes and seeing that the mailman was just around the corner, Sarah managed to flag him down. I stopped, as she got out to walk over and hand him our cards. I waited and reveled in thoughts of God’s blessed dance until she returned, though I could see through the window that they were having a pleasant conversation, which came as no surprise to me, since my daughter has never known a stranger. “Mom, you will never guess what the postman said.” “What?” I asked. She explained that as she approached the truck, the mailman declared, “Oh, we know all about the red envelopes. We ALWAYS look for the red envelopes!” The smile on my Sarah’s face evoked the unrestricted and absolute recognition of blessed significance in her world, and in that instance, I went for another joyful twirl around the dance floor with my God.
When I returned home, waiting for me under a pile of papers, was a Bible that Sarah had recently purchased with her own money. She had asked me to inscribe her name in the front dedication page. I obliged, but was stuck when I got to the line that said, “On the occasion of.” This puzzled me, because March 31st was also the 15th anniversary of my father’s death, and I wasn’t sure if that would be the appropriate occasion. I asked Sarah what she wanted me to put on the line in her Bible. I mentioned that it was almost Easter, one of her favorite holidays, and that I could put that down, or that I could put something nice about her Superdad, (That is what she called my father). She immediately bounced up off her bed and said, “No, Mom, it’s Red Envelope Day! Write that it is Red Envelope Day!” And the Master Choreographer had the Heavenly band play the encore of the evening while He and I went for the last dance of the night. Off went I, to the sweetest sleep a mother could ever hope for. That’s significance all the way around.
“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:9 NLT
