Little by Little

As many of you know, I recently moved into my own little apartment behind our new group house. Like most spaces that haven’t been lived in for a few months, there were a few cobwebs and stains that needed cleaning before I could move in; there was a particularly large stain on the floor in the bathroom, but I didn’t think much of it because I figured it wasn’t anything a good mopping wouldn’t take care of. Little did I know what I was up against. I tried everything—bathroom cleaner, bleach, CLR, special sponges. So little progress, so much perma-grunge. However, as time went on, I began to notice that every time I would mop the stain would get ever-so-slightly smaller. Some of the toughest cleaners chemists have contrived were working just as effectively as daily mopping.

Adela's Birthday Pool Party

And while it may seem like a strange parallel, it reminded me of the kids I work with everyday. They’ve all lived hard things, and those hard things have left stains on their hearts. And sometimes I wish that I could remove those stains with one motivational speaker at a retreat or a well-planned Bible class or a few sessions with a therapist, but it doesn’t work that way. Their stains are the type that need daily cleansing and attention. While I may not always be able to see it, every load of groceries, delivery of library books, visit with short-term mission groups, and birthday party is slowly but surely cleaning the stain from their hearts. A weekend retreat may have the same power over the stain as chatting over an afternoon ice cream cone—it’s something you just can’t predict.

Breaking Open the Pinata

And last Sunday at a little girl’s birthday party, I got to see a little piece of stain be wiped clean. The birthday girl’s older sister, Paty (11), was in the kitchen. She’d already eaten a hot dog and was halfway through her cheeseburger when she brought me her plate and declared “Sarah, I’m full. I’m not going to eat the rest of my cheeseburger right now”. That may sound like a typical kid response at a birthday party, but Paty’s not a typical girl. When we first started having the girls over they would eat like a college football team, stuffing themselves to the brim, because life had taught them you had to gorge yourself when given the opportunity because you didn’t know when your next meal would be. But on Sunday, Paty didn’t feel like she needed to eat until she felt uncomfortable, which shows that she trusted that there would be food for her to eat when she did get hungry again. She no longer needed to live in fear for her basic needs. She would be taken care of.

Paty :)

And in that moment, I just smiled knowing that a stain we’d been scrubbing for over 4 years now was begin to come clean. Sometimes God calls us to big flashy things, and sometimes he calls us to be faithful in the everyday; we must not forget the power that lies in daily, persistent obedience. And so I’ll continue pursuing commonplace compassion and persist in my mopping marathon until one day the stains on my kids’ hearts and my bathroom floor fade.