Tis the gift to be simple
Sunday February 13th 2011, 11:32 pm
Filed under: Friends,Life

The first speaker at church today said many things, but one that stuck with me is that her father had told her, if your heart and your head are ever not in agreement, pay attention. Sit down and figure it out till they are.  We are to follow the Spirit that leads to all that is good in our interactions with God, ourselves, and each other.

The second speaker talked about his little sister Katie.

Katie was born with hydrocephalus. I grew up with a kid my age around the corner with that, so I was particularly interested to hear him tell about his sister, whose case was clearly far worse than my friend’s; Katie wasn’t just a little slow, she had definite mental retardation.

Her brain shunt got infected and she passed away recently.

People her family didn’t know not only paid their respects but showed up in their lives to tell their stories. Things the family had never known. Lives she had touched.

And one of those was a girl who, twenty years earlier in kindergarten with her, had been, she realized later, bullying another child in the class.

Katie’s reaction was to step in, hug the victim of the moment, and tell her, Stop! She’s my friend!

To Katie, everyone was her friend.

The woman told the grieving family that it had made a permanent impression on her: from that moment on, she wanted to be more like Katie.

A kid who was different.

A kid who set the example for everyone else around her to live up to.

A kid whose heart and head were forever in the same place.


4 Comments so far
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There are those whose lives make an impact just by being alive. A good friend’s son died recently, suddenly at 19. Jason had severe CP, being wheelchair bound and limited communications ability.
The amount of love and caring that his parents showed taught more than a few around them about blessings, gifts and taking what each day brings.

Comment by Holly 02.13.11 @ 11:57 pm

There is a reason that I do the job that I do.

Comment by afton 02.14.11 @ 9:15 am

What a beautiful post. Made me think of my long ago friend, Diane. Some people have a knack for spreading love.

Comment by Channon 02.14.11 @ 9:33 am

Heart and head together! If that were more true around the world, think how much better off we all would be!

What? No words of wisdom from Parker?

Comment by Don Meyer 02.14.11 @ 9:57 am



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