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This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. –– Psalm 118:23-24
One liability of the hyper-scheduled, zealously planned life, so prevalent in our society, is that our obsession with what’s next distracts our attention from what is. Clothiers and designers are not thinking about this Spring’s fashions. They may well have finished thinking about next Winter’s fashions, and moved on to thinking about next Spring’s catalogue. Looking to the future is important and drawing up a metaphorical map can be helpful, and yet, too quickly, we lose a sense of what is going on all around us today. If we truly believe God is with us, we would do well to look for those signs of God’s presence here and now.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” I cannot understand how that became the default question we pose when we encounter a four-year-old. What are we implying with that query? That the big wheel she was riding in the driveway is of no relevance to the meaning of her days? That the picture he drew in his preschool class was inconsequential to the value of the time he will spend on this earth? Why is it not sufficient to just ask the four-year-old what she is thinking about in the moment, or why she thinks giraffes have long necks? Or better yet, why don’t we just pause to kick a soccer ball with them or “race” them to the fence and back? This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Let’s be honest, a four-year-old is not prepared to discuss the prerequisites for a graduate certificate in data analytics. There are a million experiences for them to relish before they have to have an answer for that. It is in this spirit that a preschool program was established here at SMPC in 1993. Each weekday on our campus, our preschoolers are creating works of art on our sidewalks, jumping over cardboard bricks on our lawn, making spider snacks out of Ritz Crackers, pretzel sticks, cream cheese and raisins, listening to storybooks, going to chapel, meeting a firefighter, and engaging in all manner of activities that promote language development and socialization. These kids aren’t stressing over resumes, graduate degrees, and performance evaluations. They are living into the fullness of these precious days of childhood.
For twenty-three years, Carol Watkins and Mary Lynn Rawls have been faithfully and lovingly heeding Christ’s command to “let the children come to me and do not hinder them.” Through their dedication as SMPC’s longest term employees, hundreds of children have discovered that this ol’ world is a pretty good place to be and gained invaluable skills that will serve them well throughout their lives. Think about it, their first students are now out there caring for patients, engineering prosthetics, teaching 9th graders, studying for bar exams, fighting fires, writing software programs, conducting Zoom meetings, flying jets, creating works of art, ministering to those who suffer, and working for justice.
At four-years-old, they could not have predicted the path their journey would take, so why ask the question? What do you want to be when you grow up? I’m sixty-two and I still wouldn’t be able to answer that question. Yet, I can say without a doubt that the seeds Carol and Mary Lynn have planted through the years have surely borne fruit a hundred times over. While they are retiring this year, they have established a model for a ministry that will continue to bear fruit in untold numbers. And joy upon joy, we will still know the blessing of their presence in the life of our congregation. I am humbled by their witness, and each time I hear the voices and laughter of the little ones next door, I celebrate the truth of the psalmist’s joy and gratitude: This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
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