Karen
12-26-2010, 05:39 PM
Sometimes the small things are the nicest.
Christmas Eve we have a big traditional service at my church. I am in the choir, so I have always been there for it, and lots of families who come in from out of town are there, and strangers, and people who reunite there once a year - it's a big service. It is lovely, at 7 p.m., and candles are lit around the sanctuary, so it feels very warm and welcoming.
Many years ago, I was sitting by myself during the service - the choir "mingles" for this once service and most sit with their families. Well, partway through the service, a little girl I know looked around and realized I was - horror of horrors for her - sitting by myself. "Lyn" (not her real name) lived in a big family - her parents were also raising 5 or 6 of their grandchildren, who were just a few years younger that Lyn, as her adult siblings were struggling with addiction, incarceration, etc., and couldn't care for their own kids. Upon seeing me, she looked around, realized no one was sitting with me, whispered to her Dad, left their row, and sat next to me the rest of the service. It was just a lovely gesture.
They moved away a few years after that, and the last time I saw Lyn, she was a 16- or 17-year-old new mother, she came to our church to have her daughter baptized. And though she has that huge family, she pulled me into the "family" pictures after service over.
This Christmas Eve, Lyn came in for the service early, a beautiful young woman, with one of her older siblings, an unknown other young woman who looked at us all somewhat warily, and her daughter, who is now about the age she was when she 'adopted' me that service so many years ago. She greeted me with a big smile, and a huge hug, but then we got called away by different things. But it was just sweet that, all these years later, she still comes "home" to our church for Christmas Eve.
Christmas Eve we have a big traditional service at my church. I am in the choir, so I have always been there for it, and lots of families who come in from out of town are there, and strangers, and people who reunite there once a year - it's a big service. It is lovely, at 7 p.m., and candles are lit around the sanctuary, so it feels very warm and welcoming.
Many years ago, I was sitting by myself during the service - the choir "mingles" for this once service and most sit with their families. Well, partway through the service, a little girl I know looked around and realized I was - horror of horrors for her - sitting by myself. "Lyn" (not her real name) lived in a big family - her parents were also raising 5 or 6 of their grandchildren, who were just a few years younger that Lyn, as her adult siblings were struggling with addiction, incarceration, etc., and couldn't care for their own kids. Upon seeing me, she looked around, realized no one was sitting with me, whispered to her Dad, left their row, and sat next to me the rest of the service. It was just a lovely gesture.
They moved away a few years after that, and the last time I saw Lyn, she was a 16- or 17-year-old new mother, she came to our church to have her daughter baptized. And though she has that huge family, she pulled me into the "family" pictures after service over.
This Christmas Eve, Lyn came in for the service early, a beautiful young woman, with one of her older siblings, an unknown other young woman who looked at us all somewhat warily, and her daughter, who is now about the age she was when she 'adopted' me that service so many years ago. She greeted me with a big smile, and a huge hug, but then we got called away by different things. But it was just sweet that, all these years later, she still comes "home" to our church for Christmas Eve.