change in the little ones

That little one that used to walk around with a tear stained face and messed hair - it can't be the same girl! The one who could only be comforted by one person - can it be that she is really laughing? The Lord has His hand on her! Now she runs to the playground, she holds the words to the songs in her hands, she sits calmly! She responds eagerly to conversation. She hugs the members littler than herself. She responds to love and she loves.

He used to sit quietly, shyly looking at everything from his spot on the car mat. He grew cold in the winter months and wouldn't tell a soul, his little self nearly numb to the icy shivers. Now he laughs and laughs, trying to speak words and laugh at the same time! He laughs, watching his younger brother throw the basketball as hard as his tiny arms will let him. He laughs, stuffing blue cotton candy into his mouth, smearing his Cheeto covered hands on my face and getting the most precious kick out of himself. He grows in the light and hope of the Lord.

We never thought she'd run, we never expected her to laugh. She fought, tensed in anger, refusing to engage. That was the little two-year-old I knew: the one that toppled over and turned down attention from those she didn't know. Now, just a year later, the same little girl runs, so fast that I think she will land on the ground! She laughs, running to the see-saws and swings. She knows of Jesus.

Change is taking place in even the littlest ones, and what a beautiful blessing it is to see.