Divine Appointment

"I have become convinced that if God stands a child before you, for even just a minute, 

it is a divine appointment." 

~ Wess Stafford

I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Stafford at a conference back in October. He talked about his new book Just a Minute and examples of moments in which everything changes - moments like 8:46 am on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. There are also positive moments - like the moment when an adult speaks something positive and life-giving into the life of a child.

This portion of the conference has stuck with me. I have tried to be more aware of my students and ways to speak positive things over them. This can be hard. I am a task oriented person. I like to check things off the list. I have things to accomplish in the library with students in 40 minutes. It can be hard to balance both my tasks and responsibilities and the relational parts of my work.

A week or so ago, I was at a scrapbooking thing at school. A few women were working on our scrapbooks. I was really enjoying the grown up conversation and being able to make progress on my scrapbooks for the first time in ages.

The daughter of one of the women came by with her dad. She is a darling little girl - probably 4 or 5 years old. I don't think she's ever said more than two words to me when I've seen her - usually she is playing with friends or just passing through with her mom. But this night she climbed up on the seat next to me completely unprompted. 

A divine appointment. 

I could say hi and go back to my scrapbooking. Or I could treat her like she was the only person in the room. 

We had a fun little chat. She talked about things she likes to do, including drawing, so I handed her a card and marker from my scrapbooking supplies and invited her to show me her favorite thing to draw (a tree with a hole for an owl). When she was done, she said I could keep the picture, so I ran it to the library to pin it on my bulletin board.

It took maybe 10 or 15 minutes from my night - It wasn't a major time commitment. It wasn't an inconvenience. It was a delight. I don't imagine anything in our chat was life-changing for her, but it was good practice for ME in setting aside my agenda to just BE in the moment.